Southern Star
by oceaneyes85253
Summary: AU: What if Bella was already a vampire when she came to Forks, and what if she was a Hurricane Katrina victim? E&B, first fanfic
1. Leaving

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does, tear

Chapter 1: Leaving

_This cannot be happening, this cannot be happening. Things like this don't happen in New Orleans, _I told myself as I watched CNN with horror. My worst nightmare was coming true, Hurricane Katrina was ripping through the one place that I had ever truly called home.

"Isabella Swan, turn off that TV," my mom said, glaring at me with her topaz eyes, "I do not want you watching this, it will only upset you."

"Too late." I replied.

"I know you are sad, I can see your emotions, you forget. But remember, we would have had to leave eventually, you weren't getting any older, people would have noticed something was wrong." She told me, stupid vampire powers.

"But I could still pass for 18, it would have been fine until I left for college, I mean I have only been a vampire for a few months."

"Same with us all, I will forever be 40 (AN, I don't know how old Bella's parents are)."

"Fine, I am going to go for a run, I need to get out of this hotel room."

With that I went to change into a pair of shorts and a sports bra and took off running. We were staying in California for the time being, but I knew we wouldn't stay long, we had to leave, and our house was lost in the hurricane. My dad had already gotten a new job in Forks, Washington and I was supposed to continue my junior year there. I had already protested when my parents told me I was going to a public school. I had been going to _Newman_ while we lived in New Orleans. My family and I were changed six months ago when a vampire broke into our house and changed us. My parents and I abstained from human blood, a feat that was more difficult for my parents than it was for me because human blood always made me sick when I was alive. My dad had the power to talk to animals, because he loved fishing in his past life and my mom could read emotions because she was perceptive in her past life.

It was about 30 minutes later that I decided to turn around and go home. As I went I toned down the sun a bit, cause I can control all four elements and the sun is made of a fire-like substance (AN, it probably isn't, but there has to be some reason why a vampire family can live in the south, so don't hate me). _God I hate this, we are moving to Washington and a hurricane killed my home and my beautiful truck._ My parents had promised to buy me a mini cooper since we lost my truck in the hurricane.

I was lost in my memories when my phone started ringing, my mom was wondering where I was because we had to pack because our flight was leaving for Washington tomorrow. _Oh joy_, I thought as I rounded the turn to head back to the hotel.


	2. A Different Place

Disclaimer: Maybe I dreamt that I owned Twilight, because I don't. Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 2: A Different Place

The plane flight was excruciating. My parents were suffering massively from the amount of people around us. I had to remind my parents to watch their eye color because it was scaring people. That was a time that I was happy that I was immune to the smell of human blood.

For most of the plane flight I listened to my iPod, watched people around me, read, and messed with the necklace my mom gave me a few months ago. An Italian vampire named Alina Marie made it. It was a small circular pendant made from blue sea glass with silver spun throughout it and hung on a silver chain. What made it so special was that when it is held up to the moon it reflects phrases of hope, trust, and faith. In a way it made this existence endurable. But as I got wound up in my own affairs, I noticed the sun peeking through the clouds, about to shine on my skin and expose the glittering orbs on my pearly white arm. _Oh no…people can't see me sparkling,_ I thought. So, thinking quickly I summoned water and air to create more cloud cover. It worked, but I knew that as soon as we landed we would have to run to shade.

About an hour later our plane landed in Seattle's airport and we made our connecting flight to Port Angeles where we would meet Billy Black and his son who would drive us to Forks because our car was not going to arrive until the next day.

We finally landed in Port Angeles and I went to get our bags, which were amazingly the first ones out. As I was picking up the last bag, I nearly walked into no one other than Jonathon Bloom, a boy from home who would never leave me alone. I constantly hinted that I didn't like him, but he never got it.

"So Isabella," he said, pronouncing my entire name, "what brings you here?"

"The hurricane, my house was lost as well, and my father was offered a job in Forks. What are you doing here, Jonathon?" I asked, growling under my breath.

"I am moving to Forks as well, we _must_ hang out." He replied.

_EW!!!! HE'S HITTING ON ME!!!! Maybe I should kill him now, no wait, he'd taste too bad. Never mind._ "We'll see."

"JONATHON BLOOM GET OVER HERE, I NEED YOUR HELP!!!" His mother yelled with perfect timing. I was forever in debt to her.

With a last goodbye he left to go help his mom and I went with my parents to go wait for Billy and Jacob to come get us. About five minutes later they drove up in an old VW Rabbit. Jacob was first to get out, helping his father out of the car. They were both very tan with long black hair pulled back. Jacob seemed nice, like someone I could easily become friends with. He smiled at me and came to introduce himself and he said he would help me pick out a car. Billy stiffened a bit when he looked at me, but he let it go soon after-words when Charlie hugged him to say hello. We talked pleasantly for the hour-long car ride to Forks. When we arrived at the house, Jacob helped us with our bags and bid us goodbye because he and his father and to be on their way back to La Push.

That was the first time I had ever seen the house. It was _beautiful _and it seemed to fit in perfectly with the ancient forest surrounding it. It looked as if it was built in the early 1900's with its white outside and amazing wraparound deck. It was two stories with three bedrooms and three and a half baths, meaning I would get my own room _and_ bathroom.

The inside was just as amazing. The walls were of creams and tans with varying accent walls. My room was cream and a deep burgundy red. I immediately loved it. As I plugged my laptop into my desk I began to think about the approaching day. I had to admit, I was worried. It had been a while since I had gone to school. The last time I saw school was before my change. I had decided to take some time off so I could get used to my change, my parents simply told the school that I was too stressed and I was going to be home-schooled so I could calm down.

While I was contemplating my current situation at hand, there was a knock on my door and in walked my dad carrying my TV and telling me the movers were here, and that I should help bring in boxes. I gratefully accepted knowing that it would keep my mind off of school.

About three hours later the boxes were in, and I was unpacking my room. It didn't take too long because of my amazing vampire speed, although I still tripped a few times. Even after my change, I am still just as clumsy as I was before.

My boxes were completely unpacked by about 3:00 AM, so I turned on my TV and watched Disney Channel until around 6:30 when I decided to go hunt. I told my parents where I was going and changed into jeans and a warm shirt and ran for the woods. Two deer later, I re-entered the house to get ready for school. So I jumped in the shower, immediately grateful for the hot water that came out of the showerhead. I decided to use my favorite strawberry shampoo and vanilla soap, basking in its lovely smell. After an extremely long shower, I brushed my hair and put on a pair of faded Abercrombie jeans that my mom had forced me into earlier this year and a deep blue sweater that I was told brought out my eyes. Around 7:45, my mom and I left to drop me off at school.

School wasn't too far from the house, and it was really hard to miss the Forks High School sign in front of the school. _Oh joy, public school._

"Be nice, public schools here are a lot nicer than the ones in New Orleans. I bet you will find a bunch of new friends." Renée told me.

"I know, it's just the fact that it's a new school." I replied back.

"You'll be fine, just watch your powers, no levitating water or chucking dirt at someone. Absolutely _no_ starting fires. Promise me that."

"Fine, I promise." _Or I'll try not to…_

With that I got out of the car and headed into the front office.

It was a small room with plants in pots placed randomly throughout the room and three fold out chairs in front of the front desk. The woman behind the desk smiled kindly at me when I told her my name. _She must know, it must be the latest gossip, one of the few crazy people to come to Forks, Washington because of damn Hurricane Katrina._ She handed me my schedule and told me that she hoped I liked it in Forks. I did my best to seem convincing when all I wanted to do was hop on a plane and fly back to New Orleans.

My first class was English. When I walked in a boy with slicked back hair came to introduce himself, I smiled and told him my name. When I saw him eying me I contemplated setting his hair on fire, but I remembered my promise. He told me his name was Eric and I could tell he was about to ask me out when the bell rang and I took my desk.

The rest of the day passed like that, I wondered why so many guys were talking to me. Usually the only one who ever cared was Jonathon, who unfortunately turned out to be in my Spanish class. I wasn't sure what to do when lunch came though, I would have to pretend to eat, _ugh._ But my problem was quickly settled when I walked into the gym and saw _them._ There were five of them sitting at a far away table. There were two girls and three boys. One girl was tall, blond and Playboy worthy. Being in the same room as her took about 50 points from my self-esteem; she was _that_ beautiful. The other was short with black hair spiked in every direction with small features and also beautiful. The boys were just as beautiful though. One was amazingly muscular with curly hair, another was tall as well but less muscular with blond hair, and the third was a bit more boyish than the other two with bronze hair. Their eyes are what made me the most grateful; they were topaz as well, meaning they were _vegetarians_ like I was.

The small girl interrupted my ogling by coming up to me and introducing herself.

"Hi, I'm Alice. You must sit with us!" The girl said.

"Bella, I'm so happy to see you are a vegetarian as well." I told her.

"I am happy that you are one as well, but you must meet my family." Alice replied, sitting me across from the bronze-haired boy.

"Everyone this is Bella." Alice said as they all smiled and told me their names. _They must be old_, I thought. Their names belonged in old stories. The blond girl's name was Rosalie or Rose; the blond boy was Jasper, and the muscular one Emmett. The beautiful bronze-haired boy who had been staring at me for the past few minutes was name Edward.

"What is your power?" Alice asked me.

"I can control the four elements, because I always had a strong connection to the environment around me." I told her.

"Oh, that's so cool!" She told me, "I can see the future, Jasper can change people's emotions, and Edward can read minds."

_SHIT!!! _"Wow, he can? That's cool." I said.

"Why can't I read your mind?" He asked me, looking annoyed.

"I don't know." I replied back, secretly happy dancing in my head.

He was about to ask something when the bell rang, and he checked my schedule. I ended up having biology with him and he told me I would probably sit next to him. With the last goodbyes, we left for our next class.


	3. Being With Him

Chapter 3: Being With Him

Going to Biology with Edward was definitely different. People stared at me, I could tell from the looks on their faces that they were not happy that I had stolen the only available Cullen even though we weren't even dating (I wish). He was right though, I did have to sit next to them, and it was the only available seat in the entire room. I felt like everyone's eyes were on me and I horribly nervous. I nearly set my pencil on fire while we were taking notes, but Edward smelt the smoke right as it was happening, and quickly took my hand in a blindingly fast motion. His soothing touch is what saved that class from a deadly fire.

Besides the awkwardness of people's glares, Biology passed fairly painlessly. I was getting ready to leave when a boy came to introduce himself.

"You must be Isabella Swan, I'm Mike Newton," he told me.

"Yes, and I would prefer that you call me Bella," I replied, giving him a bright smile.

"Oh, um…sure, Bella," he said, seemingly dazed, _maybe I shouldn't have smiled at him_, "Well, I was kind of wondering if you wanted to hang out this weekend. I could walk you to your next class and we could plan and all that." I felt Edward stiffen at my side as he said this.

_CRAP!_ "Well, um, erm…." _What do I say? What do I say? That I'm a vampire and I don't want to date a human? Ha, that would go well!_ "I don't know. I actually have to get going, I have gym next, and I don't want to be late." I said, thinking fast.

"Aw come on, I could show you around. Besides I have gym next too, let me walk you to gym." Once he said this Edward quietly growled, I kicked him before he attacked Mike Newton. _Why would he care whom I go out with? It's not like I am dating anyone._

"Really, no thank you." I said.

"Actually, Bella, we have to get going, Alice wanted me to tell you that you can't go to gym today because we are going to help you mom unpack some more." Edward told me, and Mike, but mostly Mike. _Huh?_

"Oh, um, right. We promised my mom. I'll see you later Mike." I said.

With those last words, we left. As soon as we were in the parking lot, I grabbed Edward and hugged him. He seemed utterly surprised but kind of happy at my reaction.

"What is that for?" He asked me.

"For saving me from eating Mike Newton because that would be the only way he would shut up." I told him.

"We need to talk about that. I have some questions for you. Let's go to Port Angeles, I already had Alice call you out, and your mom is meeting with Esme as we speak."

"Who's Esme?"

"My adoptive mother. She and Carlisle have cared for me for years."

"How old are you, anyway?"

"Not here, once we get in the car, you can ask all the questions you want."

"Ok." I said, and a second later we arrived at a shiny silver Volvo S60. (AN: I was totally amazed by the fact that my computer knows how to spell Volvo, it even capitalized it for me!) He opened the door for me and got in the driver's seat.

"Thank you." I told him, smiling. He then looked at me, dazed. _God, my smiling even dazes someone like Edward Cullen? What is the world coming to? Maybe it's the Apocalypse_. "Can I ask my questions now?"

"Yes, you may."

"How old are you?" I asked, nonchalantly.

"Seventeen."

"No, really answer the question."

"I was born in Chicago on June 20, 1901, Carlisle changed me in 1918 because I was dying from the Spanish Influenza. But that is a story for another day. When were you born, and changed?"

"I was born September 13, 1987. I was changed a month after my seventeenth birthday earlier this year."

"That's just a few months ago, why aren't your eyes red even with colored contacts they wouldn't be topaz?"

"I don't know, it might have to do with my aversion to blood when I was human. My parents have to wear contacts."

"That sounds logical. Do you remember anything about your past life?"

"Actually, I do. My parents don't remember much, but I actually have a very clear memory."

"Were you and your parents changed at the same time?"

"Yes, but that's the only part of my memory that isn't clear. I only remember the start of the vampire attack, and then the pain. Then three days later we woke up and realized what we were. We were all thirsty, and I had to stop them from attacking the mailman. For some reason, his blood didn't appeal to me. I couldn't even smell him. It wasn't until I smelt the deer that I realized how thirsty I was, so I convinced my parents to feed from animals. They agreed fairly easily, my father being a police officer, and all. We managed to stay in New Orleans for a while, and I was home schooled because we discovered the whole sun thing. We knew we probably wouldn't be able to stay much longer in New Orleans, they would notice my lack of aging, my parents rapid mood swings, the fact that my mom could see everyone's emotions, my father's understanding animals, and my starting storms because along with being able to control the four elements, I could change the weather too, because clouds are just water and air."

"Wow. So you didn't have to be separated from your parents?"

"No. I'm so sorry, that must be so hard for you. Do you remember your human life?"

"No, I don't remember anything before I became a vampire really. Here, let's go for a walk, we've been parked here for a while now."

"Oh, okay." And so he got out and opened my door for me.

We talked for a while. I liked being with him, he was so kind and understanding. He listened to everything I said, it could also have been because he can't read my mind. It was about 6:00 when he suggested we head back, because his parents wanted to meet me and Alice wanted to go hunting with me. I eagerly agreed, and we were about to turn around when I saw someone familiar coming towards us.

"Bella!" The man yelled.

_Oh no, I know that voice._ "Oh, hi Jonathon." I said.

"What are you doing here?" Jonathon asked.

"I'm here with Edward, he's a friend from school. Edward, this is Jonathon, he is an evacuee as well, _be nice, I know he's an ass. He hits on me on a daily basis, but you can't go all vampire on him like you were about to do with Mike._" I whispered that last part to Edward, so quietly that only a vampire could understand.

"I won't go all vampire on him once he stops thinking vile thoughts about you." Edward replied back.

"EW! Wait, why would you care?"

"No reason."

"Yes reason! TELL ME!" I said all too loudly, Jonathon looked at me like I was crazy and told me he would see me later.

"You suck." I told Edward.

"Come, on, we need to head back, otherwise Alice is going to hurt me." I giggled at that last part, Alice is so tiny; I doubt she could hurt Edward, but you can't underestimate a vampire.

The drive home was uneventful. We arrived at what I figured to be the Cullen house about 30 minutes later, because Edward drives so fast. When we entered the house I saw my mom on the couch talking to a woman whom I figured to be Edward's mother, Esme. When the door closed, Esme saw us enter and she came over to say hello. She seemed really nice. About 5 minutes later, Carlisle I presumed, entered the house through another door. He came to introduce himself as well. Alice came bounding down the stairs as well, being chased by Emmett who had turned pink.

"ALICE!!!! WHY WOULD YOU PUT PINK DIE IN MY SHAMPOO AND SOAP???" Emmett shrieked.

"STOP CHASING ME AND I'LL TELL YOU!" Alice replied, laughing.

"Fine, oh, hi Bella!" Emmett said, coming to a fluid stop in front of us.

"Hi Bella!" Alice said, right as she smacked Emmett.

"Hi Alice, Emmett. Nice body Emmett." I told them.

Emmett just glared at me, but it looked so funny because he was all pink that I started laughing so hard I fell into Edward, who fell to the ground as well. Soon the entire room erupted in laughter and Emmett walked away with a sulking look on his face.

"Come on Bella, let's go hunting, Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Renée, Jasper, do you guys want to come? I'd ask Emmett and Rose, but they are going to kill me as is." Alice said.

"Sure, let me just run home and change." I told her, but she said I could borrow some clothes. Everyone said they would come. We called Charlie as well, and he said he would meet us there. About 5 minutes later we were all packed into cars and on our way for a large vampire-hunting trip. I could tell this would be fun. Besides, I would be able to spend more time with Edward and his family. Alice was becoming one of my best friends, and I think I was beginning to fall for Edward.

We got to our destination an hour later. We were up in the mountains, and it was so beautiful. Edward pulled me and said he wanted to show me something, much to Alice's protests. But he reminded her of her vision, and that she should shut up. Surprisingly, she did. It must have been some good vision.

With some goodbyes, we ran to wherever he was taking us. It ended up being a beautiful meadow. It was amazing. There was a clear creek running through the middle, with flower trees of every color bordering it. The now revealed moon seemed to shine from all ends, lighting everything with diamonds. It was then when I remembered my necklace. I pulled it out from under my shirt and held it up to the moon, telling Edward to watch. He gasped in awe when the words began to appear around us, spinning and engulfing us with phrases of hope, love, and faith. I didn't notice him getting closer to me. He took my necklace from me, and hung it to a tree branch so it could continue to glisten.

The words seemed to glow brighter as he pulled me into his arms, looking into my topaz eyes. Everything seemed to slow down, as we got closer. If my heart were still beating, I would be having a total spazz attack. Slowly he closed the gap between us by kissing me, pulling me closer to him. It was the best kiss I've ever had, the only kiss I've ever had. I entwined my fingers into his hair as we lay down on the ground, with him on top of me. I giggled at our position, so compromising. We continued to kiss like that, and I was happy because he never tried to do anything but kiss. What seemed like forever, we finally broke the kiss, and he looked at me and told me he loved me. I just smiled and told him I loved him too. I was so happy, nothing could break this moment as he fastened my necklace around my neck. _I have finally found someone I want to be with._ And then we got up to go find Alice and continue our hunt.


	4. Maybe

AN: Thanks so much for your reviews. I apologize for the story being fast, but this is the first chapter story that I have ever written. But I love the positive feedback and I am trying to update as often as I can without being redundant and following Twilight too carefully.

Chapter 4: Maybe

We finished up the hunting trip late that night. Alice was jumping up and down when we got back, because she had seen us kissing and she was so excited that Edward had found me. My parents didn't mind either because they were happy that I wouldn't compromise our secret by dating a human. Edward's family gladly admitted me, which I was grateful for because I was so worried they wouldn't think I was good enough for Edward.

As we were leaving, Edward took just me in his car on the way back and he told me that I would be staying with his family that night and Alice had already been stocking her closet for clothes for me. I groaned and whined, because I hated it whenever people spent money on me. He just laughed and told me to calm down. The car ride was peaceful though. He held the wheel with his left hand, and held my hand with his right. I looked out the window for most of the time. Sometimes I would glance at him, and other times we would turn up the radio and listen to whatever was playing. A few of my favorite songs came on, like Here In Your Arms by Hellogoodbye, Face Down by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional, and Into the Ocean by Blue October. I was amazed that he didn't make fun of my taste in music, most guys did.

It was still late when we got back to his house. The rest of his family was already back, probably awaiting our arrival. But the house was empty when we entered, and then we heard noises emanating from the back yard. When we went towards the noises, I almost doubled over in giggles. I was not expecting what I saw.

Carlisle was standing on the side laughing discreetly, next to Alice and Esme who were attempting to not fall on the ground from laughing, and in the middle of the great room were Jasper and a now less-pink Emmett. They were in an epic battle of water balloons and water guns. It was absolutely amazing.

"JASPER, NEVER CALL ME THE PINK TEDDY BEAR EVER AGAIN!" Emmett yelled, right as he sprayed Jasper with water from his water gun.

"Sure, sure…. Pinky…" Jasper replied coolly before he dodged a water balloon.

"Jasper, you might want to not push him too far," Alice said between giggles, "I saw this and it won't end well."

"Hey, I wouldn't bet against Alice, Jasper." Emmett said right as he nailed Jasper with a water balloon while he wasn't looking.

"Hey, Bella, wanna help me beat Emmett?" Jasper asked me.

"Oh sure, but don't get me killed in the process," I replied as I summoned a large amount of water and threw it all down on Emmett. The entire family burst out laughing as an angry Emmett walked away, looking extremely defeated.

"Bella, you are amazing!" Jasper told me, as he went inside to go dry off. I think I officially loved this family.

"I totally didn't see that coming, nice move, Bella." Alice told me as she went back inside.

"Wow, Bella, I think you must see my family only when they are in their crazy moods." Edward told me as he led me up to his room.

Edward's room was amazing. It was huge with a massive floor to ceiling window that took up the entire south side of his room. The west wall was just shelves of CD's and the walls were covered in thick clothes, for good acoustics, I presumed. He picked up a remote and turned on the sound system to a classical CD as he led me to the couch. When we sat down he pulled me into his lap and stroked my long, dark brown hair. I looked into his amazing eyes and saw love, but also confusion.

"You look confused, why?" I asked him.

"I've never felt this way about anyone, and I'm amazed that I feel so strongly." He told me.

"I know how you feel, I would have never thought that I could care for someone so much, in such a short amount of time before I met you. I still can't believe you would like me, out of all the people in school, you choose the average looking vampire."

"I find that amazing, you didn't hear every male's mind when you had your first day."

"What do you mean?"

"Trust me, Bella, you are definitely not an average looking vampire."

"I don't believe it."

"But that isn't the only reason why I love you, you must know that. I love you because you accept me, you don't want to hurt humans either, and you are absolutely amazing. There is no other vampire, or person, like you."

"I love you too, Edward Cullen." And then he kissed me. I would never get tired of his kisses, not that I wanted to.

I entwined my fingers around his neck and he pulled my closer to him. It felt so good to be near him, something that I had always thought I would never feel. We kissed until Alice came running into the room, coming to a graceful stop in front of us. She said she was kidnapping me so she could get me ready for school. Edward smiled and held me closer to him, refusing to let me go. But Alice won. She threatened to never tell him one of her visions ever again and there were a few visions that he would want to see, mostly involving me. So he reluctantly let go of me.

Alice's makeover wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it was going to be. She dressed me in a pair of dark skinny jeans, a silky deep blue top, a pair of black ankle boots with side buckles that had a two inch heel (which is good, because I might be able to walk without killing myself, figuratively speaking, of course), and a white wool waist-length jacket. She didn't kill me with makeup either, although Rose came to help and managed to calm Alice down. I would have to remember to thank her for that. When Alice was done, I gasped at my reflection in the mirror. My hair looked amazing next to the white of the jacket, and she had put some shimmery eye shadow on my eyes and a little bit of blush on my cheeks. She handed me a white Lacoste messenger bag, and told me to go downstairs to meet Edward.

Edward's eyes bugged out when he saw me. I hadn't even made it to the last step when he came up to me and pulled me into his arms, kissing me. He told me I looked beautiful and took my hand to lead me to the car. Alice and Jasper rode with us, but Rose and Emmett took her red BMW.

"Oh crud, I have to get my new car eventually," I murmured to myself.

"Why do you need a new car?" Edward asked.

"My old car, an old red Chevy pick-up truck, was lost in the hurricane. My dad had bought it from an old friend, Billy Black. His son Jacob was going to come with me to get a new one." I told him.

"What type of car did you have in mind for a new car?" Alice asked.

"A mini cooper." I told her.

"Oh! I love those cars, they are so cute! What color did you have in mind?" She asked me.

"Well, I was thinking a blue one with white racing stripes." I told her.

"The dark blue or light blue?"

"Dark blue."

"I LOVE IT! We must come with you to get it. I think we should go this weekend. You can have Jacob come too."

"Wait, where is Jacob from?" Edward asked me.

"La Push, why?"

"Bella, Jacob could be one of the La Push werewolves."

"Crap, but he hasn't hurt me yet, we've been friends for years."

"But you have just become a vampire, and he could be turning soon."

"He didn't act funny in the car, well, Billy did. But would Billy know?"

"If his dad is who I think he is, then Billy probably knows. You should go talk to them. After school today, but don't go on their land."

"Why?"

"Because we have signed a treaty that we will stay off of their land and not bite a human, as long as they don't tell anyone our secret. And they need to know what you are, and that you won't hurt them."

"Okay, I guess."

"Don't worry, I will be stay with you, I will not let those _dogs_ hurt you." He told me, looking into my eyes.

"Okay. Come on, let's go."

With those last few words, Edward and Alice led me into the office, because they wanted to change our schedules so we could be together more often. Edward told some lie like he, Alice, and I were old friends from New Orleans, and he thought this transition might be easier if I were with them. They believed it and my schedule had one or both of them in all of my classes, which definitely made gym a lot better. Jonathon wasn't too pleased though. According to Edward's mind reading abilities, Jonathon was thinking of ways of getting me back, even though he never had me.

That day of school passed fairly painlessly, and it was time for me to call Billy and tell him the truth and see if I can possibly meet with the leader of the wolves. I pulled out my white Samsung slider, and called Billy.

"Hello?" Someone said.

"Um, hi, this is Bella, is Billy there?" I asked the person.

"Oh hey Bella, it's Jacob. Billy is in the other room, I'll go get him. But when are we going to get your car?" Jacob asked me.

"Well, this weekend, I was thinking. But I was wondering, Alice and Edward Cullen wanted to come also, if that's okay." I told him.

"So it's true, then?" He asked me.

"What's true?"

"That you are one of them. That you are a vampire, and now you are dating one of the Cullens."

"Damnit, does news travel to La Push that quickly? Remind me to not get drunk."

"Bella, you can't get drunk!" Alice told me, laughing.

"It probably isn't above me, I'm a clumsy vampire, I could probably find a way of getting drunk. Maybe if I have fermented blood." I told her. It only caused more laughing.

"Just answer the question, Bella, I have a right to know." Jacob told me.

"Fine, Jacob, it's all true. My family and I got turned a few months ago. But we have abstained from humans, and I have never hurt anyone."

"BUT YOU ARE YOUNG VAMPIRES!!!" Jacob told me.

"Jacob, we can handle it. My parents are very strong, and I can't even smell human blood."

"Jacob, it's true!" Alice called into the phone.

"Please Jake, don't hate me. If you don't want to take me to get my car, fine. I just want you to know, that I could never hate you. I know you are one of the La Push wolves, now you know what I am. Let's call it even." I told him.

"Fine, I will still take you to buy your car. I could never hate you. But promise me you will never touch a human. I wouldn't want to have to hurt you." He said.

"Thank you, Jake. Does this mean I don't have to talk to Billy?" I asked him.

"No, I can relay the message that I can no longer call him a superstitious old man." He said, laughing.

"Thanks, again. I will see you this weekend. Mini Cooper dealership, you and I."

"Tell the Cullens they are allowed to come, but they need to be on their best behavior."

"We will!" Alice and Edward called into the phone.

"Bye, Jake." I said.

"Bye, Bella." He said.

I slid the phone shut, and smiled at Edward. _Maybe things won't be as bad as I thought they would be._ He then took my hand and we left for my house.


	5. Complications

Chapter 5: Complications

"BEEEELLLLAAAA!!!" Alice shouted, as she came bounding into my room, "let's call Jacob, I want to go car shopping!"

"Jeez, Alice. Have a bee stinging your butt? I could hear you the minute you walked into the house. I'm a vampire, I'm not dead…wait, never mind, oxymoron." I told her.

"Yeah, Alice. The Volturi would have heard you, and they are in Italy." Edward told Alice with a laugh.

"Gosh, fine. Do you want to buy Bella a car, or not, Edward?" Alice asked.

"I think you know my reply." Edward told her.

"What, that you want to stay up here and screw Bella all day? Or that you want to come with me to get Bella's new car?" Alice replied with a smile.

"I'm not going to answer that." Edward told her.

Edward and I had been lying on my bed for the past few hours, talking about life, kissing once in a while. It was so nice to sit there and talk to him, not worrying about any problems. He was pretty surprised to see that I still had a bed in my room, since vampires don't sleep. But I had never wanted to get rid of my bed, I liked lying in it, watching TV. Edward was stroking my long hair and I was gazing into his eyes.

"COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!!!" Alice shouted at us, handing me the phone. I quickly dialed Jacob's number, it rang three times before someone answered it.

"Hello?" Someone said into the phone.

"Um, hi. It's Bella, is Jake there?" I said.

"Oh, hey Bella. It's Jake. You wanted to go get your car?" He asked me.

"Yeah, are you free?" I asked.

"Are the other ones coming?" He asked me back.

"Yes, Alice nearly woke up the dead when she came running into the room, begging me to take her car shopping." I told him, with a laugh.

"Oh, okay. Cool. Do you want me to come get you guys?" He asked me.

"Um, I don't know," Edward mouthed that he'd drive me, "um, I think we will meet you at the dealership. Mini Cooper, okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you then. Bye, Bells." And then he hung up.

"Come on, let's go to the dealership." Alice told me, grabbing our arms and dragging us out of the door.

"MOM, DAD, ALICE IS KIDNAPPING US AND DRAGGING US TO THE MINI COOPER DEALERSHIP!" I called to my parents.

"Okay, bye honey!" My mom yelled back. I loved how my mom was totally okay with Alice kidnapping my boyfriend and me, and pulling us to the dealership.

Within 30 seconds, we were in Edward's silver Volvo and on our way to get me a new car. Alice was eagerly jumping up and down on her seat. Edward turned up the radio, and we all sung along to the songs. It took about an hour to get to Seattle, mostly because Edward drove like a maniac. But I'm not one to talk, I enjoyed going beyond the speed of traffic, pushing the limits of my old truck.

"Bella, we're here." Alice said, singing my name.

Jacob was standing outside of his Rabbit, and when he saw me he smiled and waved. Edward growled, and stiffened at my side.

"What?" I whispered.

"He's pushing my limits." He told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He likes you. He thinks you are the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He is even thinking that he might not care that you are a vampire." He told me, with a growl.

"Don't worry. He will never get me. I love you too much." I told him, with a smile.

"I love you too, Bella." He replied, pulling me close.

"HEY! I can still hear you!" Alice told us, sticking out her tongue.

"Bella! Come on, do you want to come get your car before I die? I would say we die, but we know that's kind of impossible." Jacob called over, with a smile.

"Oh, I know. I was just telling Edward and Alice about a project that we had to do." I told him, laughing.

"Oh, okay. Let's go." He replied.

We spent a few minutes looking, a lot of the car salesmen paid us no attention, because we were kids. But there were a lot a woman staring at Edward, and a lot of men looking at me and Alice. Edward was quietly growling every two seconds, and I was kicking him whenever he stiffened.

All of the sudden, I saw it. The car I wanted. It was the bright blue I had wanted. It seemed to look like the deep ocean. And it had the white racing stripes, with dark grey leather in the car. It was _exactly_ what I wanted. Alice noticed, because I stopped right in my tracks.

"This is it?" She asked me.

"I have seen heaven, it is this car." I replied back. Alice, Edward, and Jacob laughed. A salesman finally came over, and asked if we were looking for something. I looked straight at him—and might I say, he was good looking, but nothing compared to Edward—and I told him that I wanted the blue Mini Cooper. The salesman looked me up and down, and told me of course. Edward growled, and almost lunged, but Alice kicked him before he could leave the ground.

An hour later, and after being asked out, Edward and I were driving back in my _new_ blue Mini, while Alice was driving Edward's Volvo. We had already bid Jacob goodbye and were heading to the Cullen house, to drop off our cars, and then go for a walk in the woods. Alice asked if she could come, but we smiled, and then ran for it. We heard Alice screaming from the house, and Edward told me that she was shouting a long string of profanities through her mind.

About thirty minutes out, we stopped outside of a large waterfall, and Edward jumped into the limpid (AN, hehe vocab word) water. When he came back up, I looked at him like he was crazy, and he just smiled and told me to jump in. I sighed, and dove in. We swam around, laughing at each other, and he pulled me closer to him, kissing me softly.

We stayed out there for about another two hours, until it was twilight, when he figured it was a good time to head back. When we got to the house, Alice came running out, with a worried look on her face.

"Oh Edward, Bella, I just had a vision!" She told us, I could see Jasper coming behind her, looking worried as well. _This must be bad._

Edward stiffened at my side, as he looked at Alice, and then suddenly, he roared. It wasn't the usual growls that he had been making earlier, this was a full-blown roar.

"Alice, I need to know what the vision was!" I told her, "It must involve me, Edward wouldn't go nuts otherwise."

"Bella, we have visitors coming." She told me, with a worried look in her eyes.

"Um, okay?" I replied back.

"That's not all. They are not like us, they hunt humans…"

"But I'm not a human anymore!"

"Let me finish!" She growled at me, "there are four of them, two girls, and two boys. One of them, the oldest, will take a liking to you. He will try to steal you from Edward."

"But that won't happen, I wont let them come near me." I told her.

"But they _know_ you. They want you exactly. The boy has wanted you for a while, he will stop at nothing. He will hurt anyone so he can get you for himself."

"But I didn't know any vampires before I met y'all." (AN, Bella is from the south, she had to say it. And no, I'm not ridiculing southerners, I have southern blood in me, my entire family—minus me—is from the south.)

"But you did. Do you remember a boy named Christopher?" She asked me.

"Chris…Oh my god, I KNEW SOMETHING WAS MESSED UP WITH THAT KID!" I remembered, suddenly.

"He sent his brother after you, to change you, so he could be with you. But when you got away, he was heartbroken, and then he found out your location. But he also found out about Edward, and now he is coming to reclaim what was 'his'." She told me.

Edward roared again, making me shiver.

"When are they coming, Alice?" I asked, pulling Edward's hand into mine.

"Within a week."

"Edward, how about we take a vacation? We can leave before this family even has a chance to see us." I told him.

"Bella, no! He will find you. The only way to stop him is to let him come, and face him head on."

"Fine." I replied. All of the sudden, Alice's face became blank, and she began to have another vision.

"DAMNIT!" She yelled, and Edward roared again.

"They are here." I said, I could hear them.

And slowly, we all turned to face the woods as four pairs of red eyes met ours.


	6. Returning

Chapter 6: Returning

"Well, if it isn't dear Bella Swan. Long time, no see?" Christopher asked me, staring at me with his blood-red eyes.

"Leave, Christopher. You will not cause problems for people here. Go back to New Orleans." I told him.

"There is nothing left there, besides, you and I have unfinished business." He replied.

"We have no business, Forks is my home, and you have no say in my life." I told him, my anger rising.

"Now, Bella, you should be thanking me. You were beautiful as a human, but as a vampire, you are absolutely indescribable. And so powerful as well. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have all of these amazing abilities." He told me, his eyes gleaming.

"You are wrong. Leave, Christopher. I want nothing to do with you. I never liked you, I never could. You were cruel and scared us all. I was only nice to you because I felt bad. Now leave, and leave my family alone."

"But Bella, I won't leave. You don't know what _my_ power is. And you have no getting away. My power is the power of death. Quite handy, if you ask me. I can kill someone so easily, practically too easily. And if you don't come with me, dear Edward and his family will be dead."

I looked at Edward, Alice, Jasper, and then back at Christopher. Edward and his family had to be safe. Alice was like my sister, Esme and Carlisle were my second parents, and Emmett and Rosalie were absolutely amazing. I could not let _anything_ happen to them. So I gave in, I took a deep breath and told them I would come. The minute the words were out of my mouth, Edward roared. It was even worse than the roar of rage that he had let out when Alice had her vision. This roar was from sadness, loss, anger, and most of all, heartbreak. I couldn't bear to leave him. I loved Edward, I couldn't leave. But I had to, because he and his family had to stay safe. I knew my answer, so I looked into Edwards's eyes, wishing that he could read my mind, and I could tell him that I loved him, and then I ran to pack my bags. The minute I left, I heard Edward fall to the ground in dry sobs. I couldn't handle it, so I sung quietly to myself as I ran home.

By the time I had finished packing my bags, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door to find a very sad-looking Edward. The second he stepped into the house, he pulled me into a full-blown, very passionate kiss, and told me that he would come for me. He told me that he would never stop loving me, and that he would wait for the right time so he could save me, we just had to be strong enough to conquer it. I looked into his eyes, and kissed him softly, and left. He knew my answer, he knew I wanted his safety, but I don't think he was going to oblige. And that's what I worried about most. And so I left Forks, with Christopher and his family, to a new life.

I stayed with Christopher's family for three months, although it felt a lot longer. I had somewhat befriended his sister, Lisa, who's driver's license said that she was 19, was actually 385. She was the one who had convinced Christopher to let me hunt, and not force me to drink human blood. I couldn't stand knowing that I had hurt an innocent human. Lisa was probably the closest person I had to a friend in that good-for-nothing house, but I always reminded myself that although she tried to make me as comfortable as possible, she helped to keep me imprisoned.

Those days without Edward seemed so long as well. I missed him, more than anything. And I kept thinking that maybe the reason why he hadn't come yet was because he had forgotten about me and no longer cared, but my heart kept telling me that he still loved me. I never wanted to believe it. What kept me going were the memories. I would constantly replay every good memory I had: memories of my mom and dad, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, Rose, home, running, freedom, my friends, happiness, my human life, and most of all, I thought about my last few days with Edward. I remembered how happy we were, and how glad I was to have found him. It was something hard to think about. It felt liked part of me was missing, like there was a hole in my non-beating heart that got bigger every passing minute. _I wonder if he feels like this too._ I often thought.

After about a week of being locked in a room, Christopher began letting me go out. He would have Lisa come with me, and she would make sure I wouldn't run away. Most times during my bit of freedom, I would go for a run. I would put on my iPod, and blast the music as high as it would go as I enjoyed the speed and the timeless wind rushing past me. Once in a while I would go for a swim, and practice my powers. Christopher forbade me from practicing, but Lisa told me she wouldn't tell him. She told me that although she knows this was for my own good, she did not agree with everything he did. I was not sure if she was just trying to make me like her, because after being locked up for a week, I was just trying to make it an hour without killing myself. I often thought about using my fire against them, but I knew it would never work. I knew Christopher was too powerful.

But every night, I would go up and hold up my necklace to the moon, and hope for a miracle. I would hope that Alice would still be watching out for me, and that Edward would be waiting for a chance to save me. And one day I would be free.

One day, when I was beginning to lose all hope of being rescued, I heard a banging on the door. I figured it was just Richard, Christopher's "fifteen-year-old" brother, when all of the sudden, I heard an angry roar. It wasn't one of the roars that I had been hearing whenever Christopher and Richard got into a fight, this was a different roar. This was a roar that gave me hope. It was _Edward's_ roar. At first I thought that I had died, but then I heard it again. Then I heard loud barking, something that I was not expecting to hear. I heard a woman's shout, Alice was shouting orders. I heard Emmett and Jasper roar as well, but their roars were no-where near as beautiful as Edward's.

That's when I heard my name being called, and I knew that I was being saved. Alice came running to my room, where she bashed the door down, and threw me into a bone-shattering hug. Behind her was a russet-colored wolf. I recognized this wolf; I recognized it's warm brown eyes. Suddenly the wolf transformed back into his human form. It was Jacob. I squealed with joy and hugged him as hard as I could without breaking his back. He smiled and hugged me back, which amazed me, because: 1, I never did find out if whether or not Jacob was a werewolf, and 2, werewolves hate vampires.

Alice pulled me downstairs and told me that we would have to fight Christopher's family, and we would have to get rid of them all. Meaning I would have to kill a vampire. When I got outside, I saw three wolves circling Richard, Esme and my mom blocking Lisa, Carlisle and my dad blocking Nicole (Richard's mate), and Edward, Jasper, and Emmett fighting Christopher to the ground. Suddenly, Christopher threw all three vampires back by stunning them, and then placed his powerful eyes on me. He knew he couldn't kill me, he could only kill someone using his mind, and he couldn't reach my mind. But he could kill Edward and his family.

I saw him glare at Edward, and before I knew what I was doing, my body felt like it was being taken over, and I had this electric sensation pulsing through my body. Suddenly, this wave of electric energy flew from the ground, and straight towards Christopher. It knocked Christopher off his feet, and gave Edward and his brothers and chance to regain themselves.

"You can create energy using the elements?" Alice asked me, raising her eyebrows, "When did you get this?"

"I don't know, I just felt angry, and all of the sudden, the energy came." I replied.

"Bells, do it again, but this time, direct the energy to the entire ground, but do not focus on us or the wolves, only on the others." She told me.

"Ok." I replied, before concentrating as hard as I could and sending a large wave of energy crashing onto Christopher's family. It stunned them instantly; it gave us enough time to finish them off. Once it was done, we burned the pieces and ran.

I was so happy to finally be free. I missed my family, and I had thought that I would never see them again. When we got past Christopher's land I saw 5 cars parked outside of the woods. I saw Edward's Volvo S60, my mom's Mercedes CLK 500, Carlisle's S55 AMG, Emmett's Jeep, and my blue Mini Cooper S. Everyone hugged me, then got into their cars and told us they would meet us back at the Cullen house. I just stood there and stood at Edward.

"I thought that you had forgotten about me." I told him, looking down.

"I would never forget about you Isabella. Never forget that you are more important to me than anyone else. Never forget that I fought Christopher even though I knew I might die just so you could go free. Never forget that I would sacrifice anything to keep you save. Bella, I couldn't live with myself after you were taken. I locked myself in my room, refusing to come out. I refused to do anything but lie down and let the sorrow have me. I felt like you had taken part of me with you. I couldn't even hunt; Alice had to force me to eat something. She knew I was becoming unsafe." He told me.

"But Edward, it took you three months. Why did it take so long?" I asked.

"I had to wait until they were least expecting our attack, I wanted to let you know that I hadn't forgotten about you, but it wasn't safe for either of us." He told me.

"I know. I just thought you had stopped caring." I told him.

"Bella, I will never stop caring for you. I love you, and I will always love you." He replied.

"Forever?" I asked.

"Forever." He replied, before pulling me to him and kissing me with as much passion as humanly possible.

After the kiss, he got into the driver's seat of my mini and we drove off, with him holding my hand. About an hour later we made it back to the familiar Cullen house. It was so nice being back. I missed being home.

"Bella we missed you!" Everyone yelled, when I walked in, holding Edward's hand.

"I missed you all too!" I replied as a streak of pale skin and black hair came running into me.

"Oh Bella, I was so worried when I didn't have any visions of you. Nicole's power was to block vampire's powers. I didn't know until Edward told me." Alice said.

"But then how was she susceptible to my power?" I asked.

"Yours is purely power of the earth, mine is power of the mind. Something she had power over." She replied.

"Oh. Okay. Listen, I love you all, so much. But I need to go for a run. I miss freedom." I told them all.

They hugged me, and I went to go change. And then I was off. I ran for an hour, until I was well into Canada. I noticed that right before I had left, Edward was nowhere to be found, but I figured he was off hunting or lying down in his room. My suspicions were proven wrong when I ran into a clearing, and stopped to catch my un-needed breath, when I saw him. Edward was standing by the clear lake, waiting for me.

"How did you know I'd be here?" I asked him.

"Alice. She saw it." He replied, with a guilty smile on his face.

"Of course." I replied.

"Listen, Bells, I know you've had a hard few months, but don't lock me out. Let me be with you. I want to be with you."

"I know. But you don't know what I saw. I saw innocent humans being killed. They tried feeding me human blood. It didn't do anything, I can't smell human blood. It was like drinking air, not that I drank it. I couldn't stand knowing that it came from a human."

"I know, Bella. I used to drink from humans too, and I hated it. I am proud of you for not breaking down."

"Thanks." And then I was quiet again, as I walked to the edge of the water, and took my shirt off, so I was in just a sporting bra and running shorts.

"What are you doing?" He asked me.

"I am going for a swim, are you coming?" I jumped into the water, not watching him. Seconds later Edward jumped in after me. He too had removed his shirt, and I couldn't stop gaping.

"Bella, listen to me, I could not live while you were gone. I know that you are having a hard time, but let me in. Please, let me in."

"I will." I whispered, as he inched closer to me, pulling me to him. And then we kissed again. It was more amazing in the water, because the water seemed to empower me, because I could use my extra senses. Edward and I continued to kiss until we realized it was getting late and we decided to head back.

The moon was rising by the time we arrived back at the Cullen Mansion. My necklace was gleaming in the moonlit night as we entered the spacious front yard.

"Stay with me tonight, Bella." Edward told me, looking into my topaz eyes.

"Why?" I stuttered out, thoroughly dazzled.

"I want you here with me. I want to spend tonight with you. I want to be with you." He replied back, pulling me close.

"I forfeit. I'll come." I told him. He smiled crookedly and took my hand and pulled me inside.

We went up to his room and he closed the door as he pulled me close again. I didn't think that I would ever get tired of his kisses. They were absolutely breath taking.

As he led me to the window, I admired the view. The moon shined upon everything, making it incandescent. I help my necklace up to the moon and hung it near the window, on one of his CD racks so it could reflect around the room. Almost instantly the room filled with the amazing words and he smiled at me.

"I love you, you know that, right Bells?" He asked me.

"I think you've told me that enough for it to finally sink in." I replied.

"I just can't believe that I have you in my arms again, Bella. It felt like an eternity of loneliness while you were gone."

"I know how you feel. I felt the same way, each day felt like a century."

"I agree. But you do know, now that you are back, you have to go back to school. Everyone has been wondering where you went."

"Shit, what did you tell them?"

"I told them you all were taking care of family matters in New Orleans, and we weren't sure if you were coming back."

"I bet that was hard for you to tell them."

"You have no idea. That's why I am so happy that you are back. I missed seeing you during the day. I missed your smile. Most of all, I missed this." He said, before kissing me once again.

It went like that for a while. We sat on the ground by the window, looking out at the timeless land and talking for hours. I was so happy to be back and I felt like I had never left. Near the morning when the sun started to rise, and the words began to disappear, Edward told me he had a present for me. When he gave it to me, it was a silver bracelet with gold beads. He said he bought it from the save woman who had made my necklace, but mine had the power of the sun in it.

"It's perfect." I told him, kissing him. Then we got ready for my first day back at school.


	7. Film Project

Chapter 7: Film Project

Edward, Alice, Jasper, and I drove my Mini to school. When we got there, there were so many people staring at me and asking me if I was okay, and what had happened. Edward kept his arm around me protectively the entire time, which made me feel a lot better. I could tell it was going to be a long day though.

When we got to English, Edward, Alice, and I all sat in the back—where we normally sat—and talked about plans for the weekend. Alice said that there was supposed to be a good storm and we could play baseball.

"Baseball?" I asked.

"Have you never played a vampire version of baseball?" Edward asked me.

"Well, no. What makes the vampire version so special, and why do we need a storm?" I replied.

"Well, because we are vampires, we can hit a lot harder, and space out the bases more. You'll love it." Alice told me, smiling.

"I bet you that even though I am a vampire I will still trip." I told them.

"You have a point there, Bells." Edward replied, with a crooked smile on his face. Alice giggled.

"Edward, Alice, and Bella, did you even listen to what I was talking about?" Our teacher asked us, interrupting our conversation.

"Yes, we are doing a film project, we need to get into groups, and it is due in two weeks." Edward told her. Damn mind reader, I wasn't paying attention.

"And do you have a group and/or idea in mind, Mr. Cullen?" Our teacher asked Edward.

"I am planning on working with Alice and Bella, Ma'am." Edward replied back.

"Of course, the other Cullen and Swan. I will be looking forward to watching that." She said, smiling evilly.

"What are we going to do it on?" I asked Alice, only Alice would know, she could see the future, after-all.

"Let me check," she replied, her face going blank, "a documentary on our family. I love it."

"Awesome. Wait, what's so exciting about that? Minus the fact that we are vampires." I asked.

"Come on, Bells, you have been around our house to know that our family is far from normal." Edward replied.

"True, I mean Emmett squeals like a girl, Jasper and Emmett constantly torture each other, Esme is a cleaning freak, Rosalie is a clothes nut, Edward has the whole 'tortured boy' vibe, and Carlisle is the one who has to quiet it all down." Alice told me, laughing.

"Wow, you have a point. This will be really funny. Have you seen any clips from it, Alice?" I asked her.

"Well, I know we have to watch Emmett closely. I have seen some pretty amazing Emmett things. And we need to see Carlisle; everyone will want to see his or her doctor being a spazz. I think we should watch the boys play a game of Cricket too, nothing is funnier than vampires and a game of Cricket." She told us.

"Why Cricket?" I asked.

"You obviously haven't been around our house enough. You spend too much time in Edward room on that couch of his, OW!" Alice said, right before Edward kicked her.

"Jeez Alice, just call me a whore, why don't you." I told her.

"Sure, _whore_." She replied, giggling.

"_ALICE!_" Edward hissed.

"Bells, you know I love you and would never call you a whore." Alice told me.

"I know, Alice." I replied, smiling.

"Hey Bells, do you want to go for a hunt, tonight?" Edward asked me.

"Sure, how's Canada sound? We can change after school and head out." I replied.

"Sounds perfect." He said, right before the bell rung.

We talked about plans for the weekend and other miscellaneous topics as we headed to lunch. We all grabbed our un-needed food and headed to our usual lunch table with the rest of the Cullens and the Hales.

"Hey Bells!" Emmett called as we sat down.

"Hey Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper. We were talking about playing baseball this weekend. You game?" Alice asked them.

"But of course, Bella, you in?" Jasper asked me.

"I don't think I have a choice." I told him, smiling.

"Yeah, you're right, you don't." He told me, laughing.

"Thanks. Thanks guys, I wanted to thank you again for saving me. I don't think I could have lasted much longer in that house." I told them all.

"Bella, you don't need to thank us. You are family; it tore us apart to have you taken away. Edward wouldn't leave his room. Alice barely went to the mall and barely talked to anyone, Jasper was sending out angry and sad emotions all the time, Emmett couldn't laugh, Carlisle locked himself in the hospital for most hours of the day, Esme worked on small projects away from the house, and I couldn't stand to be here. We all missed you so much. Your parents were broken, and we weren't much better, we felt awful knowing that we couldn't have protected you." Rosalie told me, and if she could cry, she would be crying.

"It's true Bella. We all love you. That's why the La Push wolves agreed to help; they knew how much we cared about you. They knew that it wasn't fair that you were taken by those ass-holes we call vampires." Jasper told me.

"Thank you. I needed to hear that." I told them. Edward pulled me into a hug and kissed my hair. Alice kissed my cheek and Jasper put his hand on mine. I felt so loved. Suddenly Edward stiffened and growled.

"_Now what?_" I whispered.

"_Newton. He's coming over. He's thinking vile thoughts about you, and he's thinking about how to get you away from me._" Edward replied.

"_I can feel the lust rolling off him in tidal waves, he disgusts me._" Jasper hissed.

"Hey Bella!" Mike called over to me, as Edward pulled my hand into his from under the table.

"Hi Mike." I choked out.

"Listen, Bella, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this weekend. You know, prom is coming up. Do you want to be my date?" Mike asked me.

"Um, no thank you, Mike." I told him.

"Aw, come on Bells. I know we haven't gotten to know each other well, but I think you'll have a lot of fun," he told me, "_there are so many things I want to do with her._" He whispered that last part, right as everyone else at the table stiffened and glared at him, including me. I was about to answer with a not-so-kind answer when Edward beat me to it.

"Listen, Newton, I don't know if you're blind, but Bella is kind of my girlfriend. She has been for a while. So there is no way I am going to let her go with a pervert like you. I hear you talking about her; I know how you think of her. It is repulsive. Now leave." Edward hissed at Mike.

"Calm down, Cullen, let Bells answer for herself." Mike told Edward, looking at me with lust in his eyes.

"I think Edward took the words right out of my mouth. And never call me 'Bells' again, only my close friends and family can call me that." I told him.

"Fine. Bye, Isabella." Mike said, stalking away.

"Wow, that was irritating." I told everyone, once Mike was out of earshot. They all burst out laughing.

"Want me to beat him up?" Emmett asked, flexing his arms.

"No Emmett, least not yet." I told him.

"I think Emmett should, you didn't see him screwing Bella in his mind." Edward replied, angry.

"EW! Seriously?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was awful and graphic. I think what he was doing should be illegal." Edward hissed.

"I don't even want to know." Alice and I said in unison.

"Yeah, you don't." Edward replied back.

Right as he said that, the bell rang through our conversation, and Edward took my hand and we told everyone goodbye as we left for Biology.

Mike stayed far away from my desk, which was good, but I told Angela, whom I had met on my first day, about Mike asking me out. She agreed it was horrible, and we talked about a bunch of other random stuff before Mr. Banner called the class to order.

"Ok, everyone, today we will be blood typing!" He announced to us.

"_Shit!_" Edward and I whispered in unison.

"_Why didn't Alice tell us?_" Edward asked.

"_She probably didn't see. Now what? We can't both mysteriously disappear._" I replied. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and in walked Jasper, looking slightly worried.

"Sorry, Mr. Banner, I have a notice from Carlisle that Edward and Bella need to be excused." Jasper told him.

"Oh, um, sure, Jasper. Edward and Bella, you may be excused. I will see you all tomorrow." Mr. Banner told us.

"Bye Mr. Banner." We said, "_Thanks Jasper!_" We both whispered.

We left school soon after that; everyone else was excused for random reasons, though no one knew that true reason. We happily went to the Cullen house, where Edward, Alice, and I formulated out plan for making the video.

I was somewhat amazed to find out that the Cullens actually owned a video camera. We all hid in Emmett's room as we laughed about what we might find.

"_I know where I stand_

_I know who I am_

_I would never run away when life gets bad, it's_

_Everything I see_

_Every part of me_

_Gonna get what I deserve_

_I got nerve (I got I got I got)_

_Electrified, I'm on a wire_

_Getting together we're on fire_

_What I said you heard_

_Now I got you spinning_

_Don't close your mind_

_The words I use are open_

_And I think that I can show you…_"

"What that heck?" I mouthed to Alice. (AN, this was totally my friend Shree's idea. We thought this up yesterday while watching Instant Star. We just thought it sounded so perfect.)

"I have no clue." Alice replied, giggling.

We moved the camera into view where we saw a dancing Emmett with a hairbrush to his mouth, like a microphone singing along to Hannah Montana's "I've Got Nerve."

"Wow, who would have thought that Emmett was a Hannah Montana fan?" I asked them.

"Hell, we didn't even know." Edward replied.

Emmett was finishing up the song, and when the last bit came on, he went nuts shaking his butt and rocking out. He went so nuts that Edward, Alice, and I started laughing uncontrollably, which gave away our hiding spot. Emmett paused the song as started screaming.

"WHAT THE HELL? AT LEAST WARN ME BEFORE YOU COME IN WITH A CAMERA!" Emmett shouted at us.

"OW EMMETT OUR EARS, WE CAN HEAR YOU CLEARLY WITHOUT THE SHOUTING!" Alice shouted back at Emmett.

"You too, Bella and Edward? Alice I expected, but not you guys." Emmett told us, looking hurt. Maybe it was just the embarrassment.

"It's for an English film project, Emmett. We are doing it on our crazy family. I told him.

"And might I say, we are getting some great footage!" Edward told him, laughing.

"Please tell me that you are going to edit that out." Emmett said, looking like he was going to cry. We still had the camera on too.

"Hell no. This is too great to be taken out of the film." Edward said, smiling.

"You are no brother of mine." Emmett said before walking out of the room. The minute he was gone, Alice, Edward, and I burst out laughing.

"Let's go check on Carlisle. I heard him come in." I told Alice, who was holding the camera.

"Okay!" Alice replied, as we left Emmett's room and bounded down the stairs (well, maybe not bounded—vampires can't bound).

We entered the living room to find Carlisle and Jasper—both painted blue and red—watching England play Cricket against India.

"GO, GO, GO!!!" Carlisle shouted as England made a point.

"YES! POINT FOR ENGLAND!" Jasper shouted back as they high-fived.

"Wow…who would have thought?" I said.

"I know. But this is priceless." Edward said as Alice continued filming.

We continued watching them spazz out for a bit, until Carlisle saw us.

"Alice, Bella, Edward, what are you doing with a video camera?" Carlisle asked, looking worried.

"Class project." Alice chirped.

"You can't put that in, I'm a doctor, people with think I'm crazy and not come to the hospital." Carlisle explained.

"But this is gold." I told him.

"Alice, honey, put the camera down." Jasper told Alice looking calm; I felt a wave of defeat rush over me before I beat it. (AN, hehe beating defeat…)

"Alice, he's tricking us, toss me the camera!" I told her. She tossed me the camera and I ran for it.

We played keep away with the camera for about five minutes until we called truce for the day. Edward and I still needing to go hunting, so we went upstairs and changed. Five minutes we were out the door, running for the woods.


	8. The Forest

Chapter 8: The Forest

We ran for probably an hour and a half until we were well into Canada. It was so nice to be away from home, to be with Edward, and to finally be free. I smiled as I examined my new bracelet. It was like my necklace, only it was of oranges and yellows, instead of blue. When I held it up to the sun, it reflected a multitude of colors and seemed to glimmer like vampire skin. I loved it.

We stopped right outside of the edge of a large forest. It looked nearly ancient. It was filled with gigantic white-bark trees with deep green leaves and it seemed to tower over us. It was probably as old as time itself. The ground smelled ancient and deep, like there were so many secrets hidden there. I felt worried about going in, and I looked at Edward to see that he was conveying that worry as well.

"What do you think?" I asked him.

"It looks so old, I don't know. I feel as if lives were lost here, as if there is this giant fear overwhelming the entire grounds." He replied, staring into the forest.

"Should we say screw it, and go in, or just turn around and head somewhere else?" I asked.

"I don't know. It could just be that this forest is so old that it holds so many memories, and we can just sense them." He replied.

"Let me see." I said, kneeling to the ground. I touched the cool earth and let its energy course through me (because I have the power to control the four elements, I can pull the energy out and see the history of the place). The minute my fingers came in contact with the earth, a massive slideshow of memories pulsed through my mind. I saw the start of the world, people being pulled into the forest, large fires, bits and pieces of the Holocaust, many deaths, and lots of fear and worry. I saw families being pulled apart, and I saw vampires. There was more, I knew it, but I couldn't take it anymore. The emotion was overwhelming me. I pulled my hand away from the ground, gasping.

"What did you see?" Edward asked me, rushing to my side and pulling me into a hug.

"So much pain. I couldn't take it. This place is haunted. There was a death camp here, an unknown Nazi concentration camp. They hid it from the Canadians, no one comes in, and no one comes out. Small children ran in there, not knowing and were killed because they might tell someone. It was terrible. We should leave, we can't stay here." I told him.

"Oh, Bells. I'm so sorry. There was more, wasn't there. There have to be more reasons why this place is the way it is." He told me.

"I saw so many deaths, the land is evil. It didn't start with the camps, there was evil on the land beforehand. There was a vampire attack. It must have cursed the land. That's why the trees are that way; it is from the spilled blood of so many humans. Can't you feel it? Can't you feel the devastation? It feels like it will tear me apart." I replied, nearly dry-sobbing.

"Come on, let's go." He told me, picking my up effortlessly. I didn't protest, suddenly we heard a whisper from the woods.

"_Edward…. Bella…_" The voice whispered.

"Did you hear that?" I asked him.

"Depends, did you?" He replied.

"If you are talking about the ere voice, then yes." I told him.

"_Edward, Bella, come into the woods._" The voice told us.

"I think we should leave. Now." Edward whispered.

"_He wishes to only speak to you._" The whisper told us.

"Who's he, and who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Ava. I am the spirit that wanders these lands. The one who wishes to speak to you both is Aaron, a powerful one, much like you two." Ava, the whisper that we had heard, told us as she came into view. I gasped when I saw her. She must have been very young when she died. She was absolutely beautiful. She had light-brown hair, clear blue eyes, and nearly translucent skin. She was dressed in a simple white dress and had beams of light streaming from her head, like an angel.

"Why does he wish to see us?" Edward asked, taking my hand.

"He knows what you are, and he wishes to meet with you." Ava replied.

"I'm sorry, Ava, but we are only trying to feed, and then we have to head back. We are a long run from our home." I told her.

"But he will not let you leave." She told us.

"Why? Can't we just walk away?" Edward asked.

"He controls this forest and whoever enters it." She simply replied.

"It seems that we have no choice, come on." I told Edward, taking his hand. He pulled me into a hug as we followed Ava into the forest that we feared.

"Tell me about yourself, Ava. How did you become the spirit of this forest?" I asked her.

"You saw it, the Holocaust. I know you felt the energy from the ground. My family was imprisoned here. I was not meant to die, like so many others, but for some reason my spirit chose to stay here. Aaron is not sure why I have not passed on either." She replied.

"The Nazis killed you and your family?" Edward asked.

"Yes, and so many others. But this camp was special, for it was run by vampires." Ava replied.

"_What?_" Edward and I asked in unison.

"The vampires had an easy way to access food, and the Nazis could kill their Jews, it was an easy trade, so the Nazis made an agreement with the vampires. Kill their victims, and they will get all the food they wish." Ava responded.

"Well, what happened? There has to be a reason why it all stopped." I asked her.

"The Volturi found out about it. They did not like the vampires meddling with petty human problems. They killed all the vampires and told the Nazis to leave them out of the war. It was not the vampire world that the Nazis were destroying." Ava responded.

"Where is the camp?" Edward asked.

"Right up here, you will pass it on your way. You may stop if you wish." Ava told us. Then we saw it.

The camp was absolutely terrifying. There was a large steel fence bordering the camp. The name, Bis Zum Tode, meaning "to the death" in German, was carved into the steel in large, intimidating letters. I felt shivers roll down my spine as we entered the camp. Edward pulled me close as we passed the fence. There were so many memories here. I could sense them. I saw so much fear. There was pain, torture, and distress. There were so many buildings. There were the houses where the victims lived, the cafeteria, the gym, the gas chambers, and the crematorium. As we walked towards the gas chambers, I felt so much distress. I could barely handle it. It was seeping from the earth. I nearly collapsed with grief as we neared the gas chambers.

"But the vampires wouldn't have used the gas chambers, they could have easily killed them humans, and gassed blood wouldn't taste good." Edward told Ava.

"Do you smell any gas?" Ava asked, and Edward shook his head. "That's because the gas chambers were a prop. The people would file into the gas chambers, and the vampires would attack. That's why Bella feels so much distress. The distress emanates from the chambers. To die from vampire death, when you are already suffering is the worst death possible.

"Then why isn't this place filled with spirits, like you?" I asked, catching my breath.

"Aaron thinks it is because I was always a spirit in human form, and I was never meant to leave the woods. But I have already told you that we do not know for sure." Ava replied.

"This place must have been so terrifying during that time." Edward whispered. I knew what he meant, having to be under the rule of vampires who only saw you as a source of food.

"It wasn't as bad as you are thinking." Ava responded to Edward and I.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Do vampires like skinny food?" Ava asked.

"No." I replied.

"So they fed us well and kept us in shape so we would taste better to them. The only bad part was the walk to the gas chamber. You knew it was the end. You knew these were the last steps that you would ever take. You just couldn't guess what was behind those doors. No one would have thought that it would have been bloodthirsty vampires. Come, Aaron is getting tired of waiting." Ava said, as she ushered us out.

"It will be okay, Love." Edward told me, grasping my hand and kissing me.

We followed Ava along a path, away from the camps, until we found a large log-house. It was built with wood from the trees; it was that same white color. Edward opened the door for me and we entered, Ava gliding in behind us. When Aaron turned to look at us, my jaw dropped. He was _beautiful_. Maybe as beautiful as Edward. But no one would ever steal my love for Edward. He had dark, nearly black, hair with extremely pale skin. His hair made him look so white, it was jaw-dropping. His features were perfectly sculpted, and he had neither burgundy nor topaz, but deep brown-colored eyes. They seemed to reflect the forest around him.

"Aaron, I have brought the two vampires you wanted." Ava told Aaron.

"Good, good girl, Ava." Aaron told her.

"Do you wish for me to stay?" Ava asked him.

"No, you are free to go." He told her.

"Where will you go?" I asked Ava.

"I will just wander the woods. I find great peace there, in the woods that stole my life from me. It is a way to continue living life as if I had never died." Ava replied.

"Okay. It was nice to meet you, Ava. You are a lovely girl, and it was wrong for those Nazis to ever steal your life from you." I told Ava.

"Thank you. It is comforting to hear." Ava replied, smiling at Edward and me as she glided into the distance.

"I bet you two are thirsty." Aaron told us, motioning to two glasses of deep red blood sitting on the table.

"We do not drink human blood." Edward stated, his eyes growing dark with hunger.

"Bella, smell them." Aaron stated. I did.

"It is deer and lion." I told Aaron.

"Yes, I saw you two coming, so I fetched you these. I do not drink from humans as well." Aaron told us.

"You were not a Nazi?" Edward asked.

"No. You can check my memories, they are clean. Well, almost." Aaron told us, smiling.

"You massacred the village that once lived here?" Edward asked.

"That was long ago. I was untrained." Aaron replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"You are the reason why this land is so evil. I saw no evil history until after that massacre." I told him, narrowing my eyes.

"It was bound to happen eventually, you saw that concentration camp. The evil was unavoidable." Aaron replied, simply.

"What do you want from us? We have a long way to go back." Edward told Aaron.

"I just wanted to meet you, then you are free to go." Aaron replied.

"We have met you, now may we leave? This forest scares me." I told Aaron.

"Edward is free to leave," Aaron told us, "but Bella, would you like to stay here. The woods are so much nicer when it is light outside, and I am sure that Ava would like a companion. Besides, you do remind me a lot of my wife that I once had."

"What happened to your wife?" I asked him as Edward growled and told Aaron that I was to come back home.

"She didn't make it through the transformation." Edward said, echoing Aaron's thoughts.

"Yes, when a vampire attacked us, he bit me and my wife, Leah, but when I finished the transformation, I discovered that she had not. She died before she became a vampire. That was the night that I massacred the village. You do look so much like her, it was hundreds of years ago, and you are a new vampire." Aaron told us, reliving his memories.

"I am sorry for your loss, but I am not Leah. If I were a reincarnation of her, I would surely remember you." I told him.

"Very well, but my offer still stands." He told me.

"And I think I will decline. Edward and I wish to leave now." I told Aaron.

"Okay, let me summon Ava." Aaron replied, before calling for Ava to come. She glided smoothly into the room moments later.

"Yes, Aaron?" Ava asked.

"Bella and Edward wish to leave, please lead the out. The woods can be very unforgiving at nightfall." Aaron said.

"Of course, come, Bella and Edward." Ava replied as she led us out.

"It was very nice meeting you two, please visit if you wish."

"Thank you for the hospitality and the food." I told him.

Once we left Aaron's house Edward took my hand and we followed Ava back through the woods and past the death camp. I felt the thick terror come over me as we neared the camp, but it slowly lifted as we walked away.

We were so relieved when we finally saw the break in the woods, the exit to this unforgivable forest. Whom we saw near the edge of the woods surprised us though.

"BELLA, EDWARD!" Alice squealed with joy.

"Alice! What are you doing here?" I asked, as I ran to hug her.

"I'm so sorry, I saw Aaron, but when I got here, I was too late, and I didn't know where you two were." Alice replied.

"Bell, Edward, since you have met your family member, I must bid you farewell. My place is in the forest. It was nice meeting you." Ava told us.

"Go in peace, Ava." Edward told her.

"Goodbye, Ava." I said, smiling. And with one last smile, she faded into the woods.

"Who was that?" Alice asked, and Edward and I told her the story of our adventures.

When we were done, Alice stared at us with gaping eyes, and then threw us into a crashing hug.

"Alice, we are fine." Edward told her.

"I know, but I am so happy that it all turned out well. At first I saw him making Bella stay, but then he saw the bond between you two, and he knew it was too powerful to break." Alice told us.

"I love her very much." Edward told Alice, as he kissed my head.

"I know." Alice replied, smiling.

"Come on, can we go home?" I asked.

"Oh, right. It's getting dark. Did you two get something to eat?" Alice asked.

"Yes, but can we get a bit more? I think today took a lot of our energy." Edward replied.

"Okay." Alice said, as we ran towards Washington.

When we finally got home, it was late and my parents were pacing around with Edward's parents.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" Our parents yelled at us. So we told them the story that we told Alice, including him wanting me to stay.

"Oh, Bella…" My mom and Esme said.

"I know." I told them, sighing.

"We were just so worried. We thought something could have happened with someone else from Christopher's family and you two were dead." Carlisle told us.

"We are fine, now." Edward told them all.

"I think you two need a good rest. Bella is free to stay the night, if she wishes." Esme told me.

"And Edward is free to come over, as well." My mom told us.

"Home sounds good. Do you want to come too, Edward?" I asked him.

"Sure." Edward told me, slipping my hand into his once again as we bade his family goodbye and left for my house.

That night Edward and I watched TV, listened to music, and enjoyed each other's company. About an hour before school Edward ran home to change and bring Alice and Jasper over while I jumped in the shower. We drove his Volvo to school while Alice prattled about the baseball game we would play the coming weekend. I was definitely looking forward to that.

"_I love you Isabella Swan._" Edward whispered as he kissed me before we got out of the car and headed to class.


	9. Fires

Chapter 9: Fires

"Hey, Bella!" Jonathon called as Edward and I walked into class.

"Oh, hi, Jonathon." I replied.

"How was New Orleans?" Jonathon asked.

"Completely and utterly ruined." I told him, even though I hadn't even gotten near New Orleans since before the hurricane.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I know you had lived there all your life. Maybe we could hang out tonight and talk about the good old days." Jonathon told me, with a hint of hope in his voice and Edward stiffened and glared at him.

"_Down boy_," I whispered to Edward and then turned my glance to Jonathon, "no thank you, I have to finish up my film project with Edward and Alice tonight."

"Well, I am sure they can handle it. _Please_." Jonathon begged.

"Listen Jonathon, I don't think my _boyfriend_, Edward, would like me hanging out with you too much." I told him.

"Oh. You two are still a couple?" Jonathon asked, trying to look innocent.

_Jeez, he can't be that blind. Edward and I have been dating for so long now._ "Yes Jonathon, we have been since the week I first came here." I told Jonathon, icily.

"Well, you aren't married." Jonathon told me, angry and Edward growled a little louder.

"No, but I am in a relationship. You must not know the meaning of that, since you have never been in one. But it usually means one person stays faithful to another." I told Jonathon. AN, I know this is OOC for Bella (OOC means out of character), but remember Jonathon has been bothering Bella for a while now.

"Come on, Bella. Just come sit we me today." Jonathon told me, as he grabbed my icy arm, before he jumped back from the shock of my skin being so cold and hard. _Oh shit. He felt my arm; he knows something has to be wrong. Arms aren't normally rock hard and ice cold._

"Please, don't touch her. You have _no_ right to touch her." Edward growled.

"Bella, why is your skin so cold?" Jonathon asked, still shocked.

"It's cold outside, I went for a run this morning, and I have poor circulation. Can we get off the subject of my lack of body heat?" I asked, thinking up the best lie I could.

"Jonathon, I think Bella has made it clear that she wants nothing to do with you. Now please leave, before I am forced to hurt you. I cannot stand here and watch you do this to her." Edward told him.

"What do you care? I bet you could get any girl at this school, you could just leave Bella for the next hottest thing that walks through this door." Jonathon told Edward, getting angry.

"I would never do that to Bella. You know absolutely nothing." Edward replied.

"Yes I do. You probably don't care one bit. You are probably just trying to get in her pants." Jonathon told Edward, glaring.

"You're wrong, you son of a bitch, I love Bella. I would never use her that way. Now leave, before I do something you'll regret." Edward replied. Suddenly I smelled smoke. _SHIT!_ _SHIT! SHIT!!!!_

"_Bella, calm down. Put out the flames. Think about happy thoughts, put out the fire._" Edward whispered to me, so quickly and quietly that only a vampire would be able to hear it.

I calmed down enough so I could put the fire out before anyone noticed it. Jonathon had already walked away; I guess Edward scared him off while I was putting out the fire. _Stupid vampire powers_.

"Come one Bella, let's go sit down." Alice told me as the bell rang.

"Class, as you know, your film projects are due at tomorrow, so work on finishing them, then you will present them to the class. Please sign up for when you will show your videos, I need to do attendance." Our English teacher told us, hanging a sign up sheet on the wall.

Alice signed up for us, as Edward and I sat down in our usual seats. Suddenly Alice came running back to us.

"Oh, Bells, I saw the best thing we need to use in our film!" Alice told me excitedly.

"Seriously? What?" I asked.

"Alice, unblock your mind." Edward told her.

"No way, loser. This vision is perfect." Alice replied, smiling at me.

"Fine." Edward replied.

"Ok, everybody. Pull out your textbooks and let's read some more of Hamlet. (AN, we are reading Hamlet right now in my English class.)" Our teacher told us, ending our conversation for the time being.

Suddenly a note hit my desk; it was a light pink piece of square paper.

_Do you want to know my vision? _Alice wrote.

**Of course.** I replied, on a periwinkle blue piece of paper, like Alice's.

_Well, it would ruin the surprise, but I can tell you that Edward will not be happy._ Alice replied.

**Jeez, Alice. Is it any good? ** I asked.

_But of course. I wouldn't be so excited if it weren't._

**Well, that's good. When will it be?**

_Around 5 o'clock tonight._

_**What are you two talking about?**_Edward wrote to me, on a piece of red paper.

**Nothing concerning you innocent smile**

_**You sure?**_

_Edward, stop being nosy._

_**Me? Nosy. No, nosy would be reading your mind. Which would be a lot easier if you would just unblock it!**_

_Edward, you shouldn't be reading my mind, anyway. It's not nice._

_**It's not my fault that I can read minds.**_

**Would all the Cullens at the table please CALM DOWN before I dump water on you two, and remember that I can!**

_**Bella, you wouldn't.**_

_Yeah, Bells, you wouldn't dare._

**Just watch me.** I raised my hand and flicked my wrist; suddenly the faucet from sink in the room went crazy and sprayed Edward and Alice.

"BELLA!" They both shouted as I stifled a laugh.

"Now, Mr. and Miss Cullen, you cannot blame Miss Swan for your misfortune." Our English teacher told them, as I quietly giggled.

"Yeah, right, we can't, at least not here. But Bella, you're going to pay!" Alice told me, getting up to go to the bathroom and dry her clothes off.

"Can I go help them?" I asked.

"Yes, Miss Swan. I suppose." Our teacher replied.

"Yeah, thanks, help us clean up _your_ mess." Edward hissed at me.

I walked out of the room with them, and once we were out of eye view, I lifted my hands, and pulled all of the moisture out of their clothes.

"Bella, I love you!" Alice told me, hugging me.

"That power is pretty cool." Edward told me, kissing my cheek.

"Well, since it would take humans ten minutes to normally take the water out, what do you want to do?" I asked them.

"Let's go for a walk." Edward suggested.

"Sounds good." Alice and I agreed.

We walked for the remainder of the ten minutes through the rain, before I dried them both off again, and we re-entered the class.

"Welcome back, Mr. and Miss Cullen and Miss Swan." Our teacher told us.

"Sorry, we had to get the water off." Alice told him.

"Yeah, I know. Remember, finish your film project, it's due tomorrow." He replied.

"Of course." I told him, smiling. Suddenly the fire alarm sounded.

"Okay, everyone, just grab your stuff and let's go to the field and wait until the alarm stops." Mr. Mason told everyone.

"Bella?" Edward asked me, raising his perfect eyebrows.

"I swear, it wasn't me." I told him, smiling.

"Sure…" Alice told me.

"Thanks, guys." I replied.

"Well, you can set fires on cue. How would we know?" Edward told me.

"Ha, ha, very funny." I told them.

"You know I am just kidding, Bells." He told me, kissing my cheek.

"I know." I replied, turning my head to kiss him back.

"PDA!" Alice shouted.

"Whatever, Alice." We told her, as he put his arms around my waist.

"Hey Jasper!" I said, as Jasper came into view.

"Bella, did you…?" Jasper asked me.

"GOSH! Accidentally set something on fire once, and suddenly I'm marked as a criminal. I'm not a pyromaniac!" I told Jasper.

"Sure, sure. All I'm saying is, we didn't have fire drills until you came. Well, and that time Emmett decided to microwave his socks during home economics, don't ask." Jasper replied.

"He microwaved his socks?" I asked.

"Yep, and they set on fire. That was a great day. Carlisle grounded Emmett for a week." Edward told me.

"HEY STOP RETELLING THE STORY!" Emmett shouted as he came towards us.

"Wow, Emmett. Burning socks, that is a first." I told him.

"Hey, Bella, did you do the fire thing?" Emmett and Rose asked me.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU PEOPLE, NO I DIDN'T SET THE SCHOOL ON FIRE, BUT I WILL IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP! Oops." I said.

"Nice, Bella." Alice told me.

"Let's just talk about this weekend. I can't wait to play baseball." I told them.

"Well, we can choose teams now. Your parents want to play right, Bells?" Emmett asked me.

"Yeah. They were so excited when I told them." I replied.

"Okay, well, how about Rose, Carlisle, Charlie, Renée, and I on one team?" Emmett said.

"Okay, and then Edward, Jasper, Alice, Esme, and I on another?" I said.

"Well, normally Esme likes to referee, but I think she will be okay this time." Edward said.

"Sounds good." Jasper said.

The fire alarm finally stopped going off, so we went back to class.

The rest of the day passed fairly painlessly, before I knew it, it was time to pile back into Edward's Volvo and head back to the Cullen house. Edward, Alice, and I worked on homework for a while, until we headed downstairs for a break.

"Bella, do you want to go for a swim?" Alice asked me.

"Sure, I need a break anyway. You in, Edward?" I replied.

"Yeah, let's go change." Edward told us.

Alice led me up to her room, and then I remembered I didn't have a swimsuit.

"Crap, Alice, I don't have a swimsuit." I told her.

"It's ok, I saw it in my vision, I ran and grabbed it during lunch." She told me.

"Oh, okay." I said, and then she handed it to me.

"Alice, this isn't mine." I told her.

"Yes it is, I bought it for you while you were hunting with Edward. It looked _perfect_." She told me. And it was. It was a deep blue two-piece with a halter bikini top and a matching swim skirt with cream-colored thread embroidery. I loved it.

"Alice, it's amazing. Thank you." I told her.

"Your welcome." She told me, laughing before she pushed me into her huge bathroom so I could change. I emerged moments later to find her in a beautiful black bikini with white Hawaiian flower print covering it. There was a knock on the door, and Edward walked in, in his red and white swim trunks, which he looked jaw dropping in. I had never seen him without a shirt on, and I think I was having a brain aneurism, if that was even possibly. He looked absolutely stunning and I wondered how this god-like creature could be meant for me.

"Wow, Bella. You look amazing." He told me, sliding his arms around my waist before turning me to face him so he could kiss me.

"I could say the same about you, wow, Edward." I replied.

"I heard you were going swimming, can we join?" Jasper asked, walking in with Emmett and Rose in tow.

"Sure." Alice replied, laughing. This must have been her vision. As we headed out, I saw her grab the camera. We locked eyes as we headed into the huge back yard, and I stopped myself from grinning. Alice turned on the camera as we headed towards the large creek in their backyard.

Suddenly Edward slipped on the mud, and crashed into Jasper and Emmett, sending them sprawling into the mud too. The got up moments later covered in the thick mud, and Alice, Rose, and I started laughing. Suddenly they pelted us with mud. The next thing we knew, we were having an all out mud fight, and Alice was getting _all_ of it. This was going to be priceless.

The fight was ended when Esme came out to yell at us, and then Alice, Edward, and I ran back upstairs to go clean off and then edit our film.

"Alice, how big is your shower?" Edward asked.

"Why?" She replied.

"We can all just get in, in our bathing suits and wash off." Edward replied, pulling me close to him.

"Why don't you two just get naked now, already?" Alice asked.

"Okay!" Edward told her, grinning.

"Hey, where's my consent?" I asked.

"Bella, would you like to shower with me?" Edward asked, his eyes smoldering.

"Awkward question." I told him.

"So?" He asked.

"I will shower, but I'm keeping my bathing suit on for now. I intend to stay a virgin for a little longer." I replied.

"Fine, come on Bella." He told me, taking my hand and pulling me into the shower.

"I'll edit the film while you two are in there." Alice told us.

"Okay." I yelled.

Edward and I used soap and washed the mud off. It was really weird being in a shower with Edward, but at the same time I loved it. He held me close most of the time and I felt so safe. After twenty minutes, we walked out and I changed into some clean clothes that Alice had left out for me.

"Video's done!" Alice told us.

"Cool. Let's wait until we present it to see it." Edward told her.

"Okay." She said.

We then went downstairs to tell Carlisle about the epic mud fight. Then Edward, Alice, and I went back to my house to watch a bunch of movies until school the next day.

I couldn't wait to present our video. We were going third. Edward went to go put it in. Alice came on and told everyone how this shows them how crazy the Cullens, Hales, and Swans really are. The first thing we heard was the start of "I've Got Nerve" and then Emmett came on, singing. The entire class burst out laughing. After the chase, the scene switched to Edward and I playing Mario party on Emmett's game cube, and my winning along with Edward's protesting. Then the one that Edward and I had taken of Alice and Emmett fighting over the remote. After that scene was Carlisle and Jasper watching Cricket. The final scene was the mud fight. After the final credits finished, the entire class applauded and laughed. There wasn't one person who wasn't laughing, which means our movie was a hit. We ended up getting an A on the project.

When we got back to the Cullen house, we showed everyone our film. Needless to say, they weren't extremely happy. But that was soon solved when the thunder started going outside.

"Guys, we can go play baseball!" Alice told them.

So we all piled into our cars and followed Alice up to the place where we would play our game.


	10. The Game

Chapter 10: The Game

"How much longer?" I asked, resting my head on the back of the passenger seat of Edward's car.

"Do you have no patience, Bell?" Edward asked me.

"If I can get my answer, then nope." I responded.

"It'll only be ten more minutes. Give us a break, we have to go far enough out that people won't randomly walk in on us playing baseball." Alice told me from the backseat.

"Thanks, Alice." I replied.

"You haven't seen anything, have you, Alice?" Edward asked with a hopeful tone.

"Well, not at this point. But I could be wrong." Alice replied.

"Why does it matter?" I asked.

"Well, it matters because we haven't managed to find one vampire who doesn't want to take you away from me. I would like to go just one week without the prospect of losing you." Edward replied, kissing my cheek.

"I guess we'll see, soon enough." I told him.

"Hey, Edward, remember that time when we made that bet of who could hit farther: you or Emmett?" Alice asked.

"Of course," Edward chuckled, "Emmett was convinced he could win, and he started getting on my nerves, so Jasper and I tricked Emmett into losing. His debt was great."

"How did you y'all get Emmett to lose?" I asked.

"Well, Jasper sent waves of uncertainty and lethargy towards him. Then I read his thoughts to use his memories against him. Needless to say, Emmett got hit with the ball, and never got a chance to hit. I hit it so far I think I made it to Japan." Edward replied.

"What was Emmett's debt?" I asked.

"He had to wear a ballerina outfit to school. Tutu and all. It was absolutely fantastic." Alice told me.

"Emmett could fit into a leotard?" I asked, amazed.

"Well, I had to take it out, a bit." Alice replied.

"How much?" I asked.

"A lot." Edward told me, laughing.

"Yeah, a lot of the girls were staring at his 'special area' because it wasn't well concealed. Poor Emmett. Rose wasn't too happy." Alice reminisced.

"Wow. I would love to have seen that." I told them, giggling.

"We have pictures, remind me when we get back tonight." Alice told me.

"Of course." I replied.

"Okay, Bells, We're here!" Edward said as he stopped the car outside of the woods.

"Gosh, finally." I mumbled to myself. Edward hit my playfully.

Moments later the other Cullen cars pulled up, and my parents got out of Carlisle's car.

"Wow Bella. This will be so much fun!" My mom told me, putting her arms around me. I smiled.

Carlisle led the way through the woods. We actually walked because the woods were so amazingly beautiful. The trees were huge and absolutely lovely. There was a soft path running along the ground and the grass was a fantastic green. I think I heard a creek too. (AN, I used the image of one of the pictures on my Mac's "forest" screensaver. Most of those forests look like those in Twilight.)

"We will just walk to the clearing, and then we can start the game." Carlisle told us all.

"Are we playing like normal baseball, with nine innings?" I asked.

"Of course, Bells." Edward told me.

Suddenly we came upon the clearing. It was magnificent. The woods bordered all edges and the ground smelled of fresh rain.

"Okay guys, get into your teams! Rose, Carlisle, Charlie, Renée, and I on one team. That leaves Edward, Bella, Alice, Jasper, and Esme on the other team. Edward, Alice, go away. We are going to flip a coin to see who bats first, and that won't work with mind-reading and seeing the future." Emmett said.

"Fine!" They both called out as they turned to walk closer to the edge of the woods. I smiled knowing that my power couldn't affect the coin flip. Maybe if we flipped some dirt though.

"Okay, who's going to call it from each side?" Carlisle asked.

"I will!" I told him.

"I guess I will too." Rose said as she walked towards Emmett who smiled.

"EMMETT THINK G-RATED THOUGHTS!" Edward called out, seemingly disturbed.

"Then don't look!" Emmett replied.

"I can't help it. It's not my fault I can read minds." Edward replied.

"Your just jealous because you haven't screwed Bella yet!" Emmett called over, grinning like an idiot.

"HEY LET'S KEEP MY LOVE LIFE OUT OF THIS!" I told them.

"SHUT UP EMMETT! Not every relationship is about sex." Edward replied.

"Calm down, idiots! I want to play baseball. Emmett, flip the damn quarter before I hurt you." Alice called to Emmett as she hit Edward in the head.

"Fine." Emmett replied, flipping the coin.

"Heads!" I called out.

"Tails!" Rose called at the same time. It landed on heads.

"Bella, do you want to bat or field first?" Emmett asked.

"Um…We'll bat." I told him.

"Okay." He said, as they got to their bases, which were really far apart.

Emmett stood in the outfield, Carlisle between first and second, Rosalie pitched, my dad was catcher, and my mom took the space between second and third base. Alice was first to bat.

Rose pitched it fast to Alice, but Alice managed to hit the ball, and the sound when the bat hit the ball was so loud, it was like lightening hitting the feet from us. The ball flew into the woods.

"Home run." I said.

"Wait," Esme told me, I realized Emmett was missing and seconds later he emerged from the woods with the ball in his hand, "out!"

Edward was up next. This time Edward managed to get a run. After him I batted. I got a single. It would have been easier if I were less inept, but I still suck at sports. Edward still gave me a high-five anyway.

We were at the bottom of the fifth inning with my team winning by 3 runs and I was playing between first and second base with Edward in the outfield and Alice pitching when she suddenly froze and dropped the ball.

"What did you see?" Jasper and I asked.

"It must have been bad, she's worried." Jasper said as he pulled Alice into a hug.

"There is a family of vampires coming." Alice explained.

"How many?" Carlisle asked.

"Two parental figures, and three teens close to our age." Alice explained.

"Are they like us in our hunting patterns?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes." Alice replied.

"Okay good. The next thing we need is people dying." Charlie said.

"But what is so bad then?" I asked.

"Bella, we haven't managed to find a vampire who doesn't want to take you from Edward, remember?" Rosalie said.

"But this time it won't be Bella the vampires want." Alice said, looking at Edward.

"That will never happen." Edward said, through clenched teeth.

My non-beating heart dropped. "Alice, what did you see?" I asked.

"I saw the girl vampire kissing Edward." She replied feebly.

"Of course." I said, as I turned toward the edge of the woods, preparing to go home.

"Bells, wait. That will never happen, I could never love anyone more than I love you." Edward told me, taking my hand.

"But Alice saw it, and you would never catch me betting against Alice." I replied.

"Bell, it could have been a misunderstanding. Did you see anymore, Alice?" Carlisle said.

"No, it faded out before I got a chance to see any more." Alice replied.

"How much longer?" I asked.

"Huh?" Alice asked me.

"How much longer until they get here?" I replied, my heart slowly breaking.

"They will be here within a few hours." Alice told me, looking down.

"Bella and I will go. The girl you saw kiss me will not see me, and once they leave, Bella and I will return." Edward said.

"No, Edward, this girl could be perfect for you. I don't want to stand in your way. You could be so much happier. I would just be acting selfish to keep you with me. You should stay." I told him.

"Bella, how many time do I have to tell you? I love you and only you. No other girl could ever hold one-tenth, no one-hundredth of the love that I feel for you. Never underestimate that. I will not let that girl take me from you." Edward replied.

"Just stay, it could be a misunderstanding." Jasper told us, putting his arm around me.

I looked around at everyone, then took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I guess."

"Come on, let's finish the game." Alice said.

My team ended up winning, which was a plus, but I was still so worried about the family that was coming to visit us. I wasn't sure about what to do either. Edward and I stayed in his room for the rest of the afternoon, and then the doorbell rang.

"Bella, don't worry, everything will be okay." He told me, kissing my lips.

"We'll see." I said, as I headed downstairs to meet five new pairs of topaz eyes looking at me.


	11. Running

Chapter 11: Running

"Hello, my name is Joseph, and this is my wife Liza, and my two daughters, Dahlia, Trinity, and my son Hunter. What is your name?" Joseph asked Carlisle.

"My name is Carlisle, and this is my wife Esme, my three sons Edward, Emmett, and Jasper, and my two daughters Alice, and Rosalie." Carlisle replied.

"And who is this?" Hunter asked, pointing to me.

"This is Bella, Edward's girlfriend. Her parents have already gone back to their house." Carlisle told Hunter.

"Hi." I said, smiling sheepishly.

"Come in, let's go into the living room and talk. I may ask that you not stay long though, there can't be too many of us in one given area or people will start to get suspicious. There are already a bit more of us living here than there should be." Carlisle told Joseph.

"Oh don't worry, we were just looking around. It was time for us to move from our old home, Hunter, Dahlia, and Trinity were getting too old." Liza told Carlisle.

I observed them all, they seemed nice enough, but I didn't know which vampire was the one whom Alice had seen kissing Edward. Dahlia had amazing raven black hair and was absolutely beautiful. Trinity had chestnut brown hair with softer features that her beautiful sister. Hunter had dark brown hair and seemed to have darker skin under his ultra-pale pallor.

"So how long have you all been vampires?" Trinity asked.

We all told her our ages, and she was amazed to find out that I was only a few months old.

"How can you have such good self-restraint around so many people when you are so young?" She asked me.

"I'm immune to the scent of blood." I replied, shrugging.

"I wish I were that lucky." Trinity told me.

"So Edward, what is there to do down here?" Dahlia asked Edward. I felt my non-beating heart drop again.

"It's a small town, there isn't much to do outside of Seattle and Port Angeles." He replied, moving away from her. I felt somewhat grateful.

"Well, I'd like to see Seattle. But first can you take me hunting? I would love to see the forests here." She asked, looking at him hopefully.

"Maybe another time." He answered, angrily.

"I'll hold you to that." She replied.

"And I said maybe, if you haven't noticed, I have a girlfriend whom I love very much." He told her.

"Oh I've noticed, but that is why teen love is so fickle." She replied, looking at him.

"Oh no, Bella. I think her power is hypnotizing!" Alice whispered.

"What do we do, then?" I replied.

"I don't know. Hunter, can we talk to you?" Alice said.

"Yeah, sure." He replied, smiling at me.

"Your sister's power is hypnotizing. Tell her to leave Edward alone." Alice told him.

"I know, I am so sorry for her behavior. Trinity can read minds and project her thoughts into another person's minds and I can see the future, so when I saw you all, Trinity saw it, and then projected the vision to Dahlia. Dahlia became obsessed and made us come here. I'm afraid she won't leave without Edward. I am so sorry. I can't call her off." Hunter told us.

"But, what do we do, then. Edward promised he would always be here for me." I told Hunter.

"Edward won't know what he is doing, Dahlia is hypnotizing him." Hunter explained.

"But Edward can read minds, won't that help?" Alice asked.

"Maybe. If she breaks the hypnotism long enough for him to be able to read her mind. But even then it isn't likely that it will work." Hunter replied, looking down.

"This isn't fair. I swear, the odds are always against us." I said, almost in tears.

"Bella, you can still stay with us even if things don't work out." Alice told me.

"No, it will be too hard." I replied.

"But Bells, Dahlia's hold on Edward isn't the hold you have. Her hold is of mind power, and your hold is of true love. He loves you, and love will conquer all." Alice replied.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I've seen it." She replied.

"I have too. It may take a bit, but I saw you and Edward together in the end." Hunter told me.

"Thanks." I replied before turning around.

"Wait, where are you going?" Alice asked.

"I'm going for a run. I need some time to think." I told Alice.

"I'm going too. I want to run with you (AN, hehe that rhymes)." Alice told me, pulling me upstairs so we could change.

We left 5 minutes later, after I changed into a deep blue sports bra and black running shorts and Alice changed into a red sports bra and white running shorts. I put on my favorite blue Asics and we were out of the house. But as we left I noticed Dahlia putting her moves on Edward. I blocked it out and kept running. I couldn't look back.

I pulled out my iPod and started playing "Wave Goodbye" by Steadman, which seemed to fit this situation perfectly.

"That song is perfect, you know?" Alice told me.

"I know." I replied.

"Bells, it will work out." Alice told me.

_See me roam_

_See me climb_

_If I leave here now_

_I can make good time_

_See me fall_

_See me rise_

_Grabbing one last look_

_Then I wave goodbye_

I started dry sobbing and Alice slowed down to a stop and pulled me into a hug.

"It's okay, Bells. It's okay." Alice told me, kissing my head.

"No, it's not. It hurts." I told Alice.

"Come on, let's go back." Alice told me.

"Okay." I agreed, turning around.

We ran home and when I got into the house, Dahlia and Edward were just leaving. Dahlia was in a burgundy dress that hugged her curves perfectly and Edward was in a pair of dark jeans and a blue dress shirt.

"We're going for dinner bitches, bye!" Dahlia told us as she ushered Edward out of the house. But I gasped when I saw Edward, his eyes weren't topaz anymore, they were gray, meaning he was hypnotized.

"Oh Alice." I told her, putting my head into my hands.

"I know, Bells. I know." She replied.

"I'm going to head home and take a shower." I told her.

"Jasper, Rosalie, and I will be over later. We'll watch a movie. If we were human, I would say we'd eat popcorn and eat ice cream, but we aren't human." Alice told me.

"Thanks. I'll call you all when I'm done." I told her.

"Don't worry, I'll see when your done, just concentrate on relaxing." She told me.

"Okay Alice. Thanks." I told her before I gave her a hug and ran home.

When I got back I plugged my iPod into my speaker system and blasted it on shuffle. I had the weirdest mix of music too. It was alternative, rock, pop, soundtrack music (such as Lord of the Rings) and soundscapes. I started singing along when "The Mixed Tape" by Jack's Mannequin came on. The song after that was "Snow (Hey Oh)" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I spent almost an hour in the shower and I felt almost relaxed when I got out.

Twenty minutes later I heard voices outside the door and I knew Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie were here.

"Hey Bella." Jasper told me, pulling me into a relaxing hug.

"Hey Jasper." I replied.

"Oh, Bella." Rosalie said as she pulled me into her arms.

"Hi Bells." Alice said, kissing my cheek.

"What movies are we watching?" I asked.

"We have both Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Finding Nemo, Lord of the Rings, Tristan and Isolde, Bend It Like Beckham, She's the Man, Mulan, Chronicles of Narnia, and Amazing Grace. What do you want to watch first?" Rosalie asked me.

"How about Finding Nemo?" I asked.

"Sounds good!" Alice told me, taking the DVD from Rosalie and putting it into the player on our big LCD screen TV.

We watched Finding Nemo, She's the Man, Amazing Grace, and we were halfway through Mulan when Emmett called, we put him on speakerphone so we could all talk.

"Guys, I have some bad news." Emmett told us.

"What?" I asked.

"Dahlia is trying to convince Edward to leave with her." Emmett replied.

"NO!" I yelled, falling to the ground.

"Bella, we won't let him. Come on." Alice said, turning off the DVD and leading us out the door.

We drove to the Cullen's house is absolute silence, not sure what to say.

"Bella, it will be okay." Jasper told me, using his powers to calm me down.

"Thanks, Jasper." I replied, resting my head on the back of the seat.

"No problem." He replied, smiling.

"Come on, Bells." Alice told me, as we got to the house. What I wasn't prepared for was what we saw when we entered the house.

Edward and Dahlia were full on making out on the couch. Dahlia's dress was halfway down her shoulders, and Edward's shirt was off. I gasped, and turned around and ran. I ran and didn't look back.


	12. Italy

Chapter 12: Italy

I ran for miles until I finally stopped. I heard Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Carlisle, Esme, Trinity, and Hunter calling after me, telling me to stop. I ignored them and kept going. I stopped somewhere in Vancouver, B.C. and found a hotel that I could check into since I had a credit card.

I got just a simple bedroom with a king bed for the week at the Westin Grande Hotel, figuring I'd look for an apartment if I was going to stay for longer. I wasn't exactly happy about that, but I knew I couldn't go back to Forks yet, not after the scene I had built into my memory. That memory of Edward and Dahlia about to screw each other wasn't out of my memory yet.

I pulled out my laptop and went to the deck to check my e-mail and look at possible apartments, I also pulled out my phone and called my mom to tell her I was okay.

"Hello?" My mom asked into the phone.

"Hey, Mom. It's Bells." I replied.

"Oh, Bella! Honey, we have been so worried. Alice has been asking if we had heard from you. Everyone has been so worried, you just took off. Never do that ever again, Isabella Marie Swan." My mom told me.

"I know, Mom. I'm sorry, but you didn't see what I saw." I replied.

"I know, baby, I know. You're hurt. But you have to understand, it was hypnotism. Edward had no power over his actions." My mom told me.

"How do you know? He could have been using his own mind." I told her.

"No, Jasper felt his emotions, and Edward gave none away, meaning he was hypnotized." My mom replied.

"I can't. Dahlia has a pretty firm hold on him. I booked the room for a week anyway. Just give me a week." I told her.

"Okay. Well, your father wants to talk to you, and I bet Alice Cullen will be arriving momentarily." My mom said.

"Okay, put Dad on." I asked.

"One minute." My mom replied, handing the phone to my dad.

"Bell?" My dad asked. _Who else would it be?_

"Yeah Dad. It's me. Listen, I'm so sorry for running off. Just give me some time." I told him.

"Okay, Bells. I love you, and our door is always open. Speaking of doors, I hear Alice knocking." My dad replied.

"Okay, put her on." I said.

"ISABELLA! Don't you ever do that to us ever again!" Alice shouted.

"I know, Alice. But you saw it, and it wasn't Jasper about to have sex with Dahlia." I told her.

"But Bells, we have all been so worried. Well, not all. Edward is still in a trance and Dahlia is happy to finally have you out of the picture. But Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Jasper, Rose, and even Trinity, Hunter, Liza, and Joseph have been worried sick. Of course Joseph and Liza feel responsible for your leaving, but it isn't their fault. They told us that Dahlia has always been difficult. When are you coming home?" Alice asked me.

"In at least a week." I replied.

"Well, I'm coming to visit you." She told me.

"No, Alice. I need some time to myself, just give me a week." I replied.

"Please, Bell?" She asked.

"Give me a week, Alice. This is hard on me." I told her.

"Fine, I'll call you later Bells. I love you, and Jasper says he loves you too," she told me, laughing, "I'll call you later. Stay safe."

"Thanks Alice. I love you both too." I replied, hanging up the phone and going to turn the T.V. on.

Instant Star was on, and it was a new episode too. I had been watching it since it came out and fell in love with it during the first season. After Instant Star was Degrassi: The Next Generation, another show I loved.

After watching some T.V., I decided to go for a hunt, so I put on a pair of torn jeans and a flannel button-up shirt from my duffel bag that I had packed on my way out of Forks. I got directions to the nearest forest then took a cab to the entrance. Once out of view from any people, I ran deep into the woods.

I stayed in Canada for about a month and Alice gave up calling me trying to get me to come back home. I had pretty much given up on returning, I had been renting an apartment by month so I could leave if I had to. I pretended to be 20 so people wouldn't be suspicious of a seventeen-year-old living in an apartment by herself. I even got a puppy, whom I named Pepper.

It was a particularly rainy day when there was a sudden knock on the door. I half expected it to be the rent lady, coming to get my monthly rent, but when I opened the door, I was _very_ surprised.

"BELLA!" Alice shouted as she pulled me into a bone-shattering hug. Jasper stood behind her, smiling at me.

"Hey Alice, Jasper." I said, before I gave Jasper a hug as well.

"Bells, we were so worried. When Alice looked for you, she couldn't find you." Jasper told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"There was nothing, we thought you had died." Alice replied.

"Did anyone tell _him_?" I asked.

"He wouldn't know otherwise. He's been hypnotized since the day you left." Jasper told me, taking my hand.

"Bells, please come back, we miss you." Alice told me.

"He doesn't." I replied.

"We'll find a way to make him remember." She told me, smiling. Suddenly her eyes blanked out. She was having a vision. When she regained composure, she gasped.

"What is it?" Jasper and I asked.

"NO! Why would he do that?" Alice shouted.

"Who do who what?" I asked. (AN, I totally said that today)

"Edward…Italy." Alice replied.

"What? How?" Jasper asked.

"I don't know." She replied, calling Rose, putting it on speaker.

"Alice, he just left!" Rose cried into the phone.

"How did he know? He was hypnotized." Alice asked.

"Trinity told him, and he was able to fight Dahlia's hypnotism. He started crying then told everyone he was leaving. Emmett and I tried to stop him, but we could tell he was dead." Rose replied.

"But I'm not dead!" I said.

"Oh, Bella! I'm so happy to hear from you." Rose said.

"Same, Rose, how long do we have?" I asked.

"He left five minutes ago. You'll have to intersect him in Italy. There is no way you'll catch him in time." Emmett said.

"Okay. I guess we are going to Italy." I said.

"Okay, be safe, you guys. Do you want us to come?" Rose asked.

"No, if you do, it will only make him act quicker. He'll see you and know immediately. Bella and I will go. He needs to see Bells." Alice said.

"No way, I'm going with you! There is no way you two are going to Volterra by yourselves!" Jasper exclaimed.

"But it will be safer if it is just Bella and I. Please, Jasper. We'll be fine." Alice pleaded.

"Okay, but we are flying anyway, so if you need us we will come." Jasper replied.

"Works for me, I'll tell the family!" Rose said.

"Okay, bye Rose. We'll speak to you soon. Come on guys, let's go." Alice said.

"What about my dog?" I asked.

"We'll drop her off at a pet place on the way. Come on! We don't have a ton of time!" Alice said.

I quickly packed my clothes into a duffle and picked up Pepper as we ran for the door. We left my apartment building and sped off in Alice's rental car.

It was surprisingly quiet in the car on the way to the airport. Rosalie had already made our flight plans after we hung up and we were going to have a non-stop flight to Florence where we would drive into Volterra and stop Edward from killing himself.

We finally made our flight with minutes to spare as we sat down in first class, which Rose had managed to get us. I sat next to Alice, who sat next to Jasper. Jasper calmed us both down as the plane took off.

"Alice, what are we going to do when we get there?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know what he's going to do, or what they are going to say, but you are going to have to run to find him. It is the only chance we have." She replied.

"But why am I your only hope? Once he sees me, and we save him, he will just return to Dahlia." I told her.

"Bella, are you crazy? The reason why he is even _going_ to Italy is because he thought you were dead." Jasper told me.

"But why would he care?" I asked.

"Bells, he loves you. He never stopped loving you." Jasper told me.

"But maybe he's just guilty." I said.

"No. Trinity got a good look at his mind, and she saw pain. Not guilt, but pain and love. And none of it was directed toward Dahlia. It was all directed towards you. She saw memories of you two, and she wanted to kill Dahlia for coming between you two. She sent her feelings to Dahlia, and Dahlia backed off pretty quickly." Alice told me.

"Oh…well. That's good. I guess." I replied.

"Okay, here, Bells, Jasper, switch with me, that way you and Jasper can talk. I need to concentrate to make sure that Edward won't get himself killed." Alice told us.

"Okay." Jasper replied, before getting up and moving into Alice's seat. He pulled out a deck of cards and we proceeded to play cards while Alice concentrated on her vision. It was going to be a long flight. Eventually we just turned on the T.V. screens in front of us so we could watch a movie. I watched National Treasure and Jasper watched The Ring. _Crazy person_.

I had just gotten to the part where they are reading the numbers on the back of the declaration when Alice started jumping up and down in her seat.

"JASPER! GUESS WHAT!" Alice shouted, making Jasper scream because he was _very_ into The Ring.

"Alice…what is it?" I asked.

"He won't succeed. The Volturi won't kill him, 'wasteful,' is the word Aro will use. Edward will try and think of ways to piss them off though." She told us.

"What are some of his ideas?" Jasper asked.

"Oh, going hunting in the city, throwing a car, jumping off a building, jumping on a car so it can hit him, run around in circles, he almost settled for streaking through the sun, but he decided he didn't want to die a naked man (AN, that totally reminded me of a few days ago during art, my friend walked in on this _really_ hot guy, who looks a lot like Edward, changing into another shirt cause he's helping move stuff and he needed a shirt that could get crap on it, and our art teacher was like "whoa there, naked boy!" Haha!). He's decided on keeping it simple, though. He is just going to walk into the sun." Alice told us.

"Wow. Never get Edward depressed." Jasper said, laughing to himself.

"Alice…did Edward and Dahlia ever…?" I asked.

"Um, random much, but no. They got close, but Trinity told her not yet, that it was one thing to kiss him, but it was another thing to have sex with him. She obliged and didn't do it, amazingly." Alice replied.

"Okay, just checking. If we ever have sex, I would want to be his first." I replied.

"Even if you weren't, he still loves you, he didn't love Dahlia." Alice reminded me.

"Hey, enough! I don't want to think about Edward screwing anyone!" Jasper said, a little too loud. A lot of people glared at him.

"Sorry. How about we play I Spy?" I asked.

"No, Alice will see the future. It won't work." Jasper replied.

"Damn you and your powers, fruit bat!" I told Alice (AN, I got this from "Vampires and Technology Don't Mix," good story…).

"Oh calm down, Bells," Alice said, giggling, "We are landing in five, four, three, two, one…" And the plane landed.

"Wow, eerie." I replied.

"I know, isn't it?" Jasper told me, laughing.

"Okay, guys, let's be serious. When we get off this plane, we need to get a car, and then drive to Volterra. When we get to Volterra I will get as close as we can to where Edward will be, and then Bella will stop him. Okay?" Alice told us.

"Yeah, got it." We replied.

As soon as they let us off the plane, we grabbed our duffel bags and ran—at human speeds of course—to a parking lot where Alice _stole_ a yellow Porsche 911 Turbo. Then we sped off to Volterra.

I was too worried to even enjoy the fact that it was the first time that I had been east of Florida. We had gone to New York once, but that was really the extent of our traveling. Suddenly we came behind a large line of cars entering a giant stone fortress.

"Volterra." Alice said, growling the word.

"May we make it out of here alive—or well, existing." I said.

"Aye that we must!" Jasper said, lightening the mood.

Suddenly someone stopped the car, it was one of the guards, and he told us we couldn't go into Volterra in our car. Alice _bribed_ him, and he let us in. _And I thought Alice was the smart one. I was wrong_.

We made our way through the walls and I marveled at the age of the city. It seemed so old, so timeless, and yet so imposing. I felt a bit scared just being there, knowing the Volturi could end my life if they wanted to.

"Okay, Bella, I'm going to get you over there," Alice said, pointing to a parking area near a large fountain, "then I need you to run over there, Edward should be there. Then you can stop him. Okay? Try to stay out of the sun, please. Use cloud cover, anything. I trust you." Alice told me, pointing to the clock tower.

I nodded my head, and the door was thrown open and I was running. I maintained human speed and screamed out Edward's name hoping he could hear me. I knew he would be tuning it out though, probably thinking of how to say goodbye to my memory. If I were human, I would be crying. If that were I, I would be spending my last few moments on the earth thinking about my loved one. Spending the last bit of time I had with Edward, thinking about his touch and how much I loved him. But I mustn't think of that. I must know that I will save Edward. I had to, Edward needed to be alive.

I pulled in cloud cover as I ran through a cold fountain and continued running. I had to get there in time. Then I heard the bell toll loudly, cutting through the air with a cacophony of chimes. I had to make it. I was so close.

Then I saw him. He was more godlike than ever. He had his shirt on the ground, and his eyes were closed. He was singing to himself, my lullaby he had written so long ago. He was trying to remember.

He was about to take a step into the sun when pushed him back. He looked back at me, confused, and said "Wow, am I dead? If this is hell, then I'll take it."

"Edward, you are alive. Come on, let's go." I told him, pulling him along.

"One thing, first." He said, before pulling me into his arms and kissing me until I felt like I was going to melt away. And then we heard someone clearing his throat, it was the Volturi. _Oh no._


	13. Never

AN: Thank you so much for the reviews! They definitely help me want to keep writing. Sorry for the random updates though, most chapters take me a few hours to write, so I always update before I go to bed. My laptop also has something weird problem with the Internet where I can't keep Internet for more than a few hours. I have to call Apple about that…not to mention I have 2 ½ hours of gym nearly every day. My schedule is nuts. But I can concentrate now, I'm sitting on a plane to New York for my brother's graduation, so once I manage to find Internet, I'll update, I promise.

Chapter 13: Never

Edward had just pulled me into his arms and kissed me so amazingly. It was one of those kisses that one shares with a loved-one after not having seen him or her for what feels like a decade—when it is really only a few days. But for me, it was different. It reminded me of the promise he'd made before Dahlia ruined everything. It was a promise that he would always love me. But maybe I was wrong, maybe he kissed me because he was so relieved that I was alive, and then when we got back to Forks he would return to Dahlia. It was during this kiss that someone behind us cleared his throat. I turned around suddenly, worried that it could be Dahlia coming to take Edward away from me yet again. But it wasn't Dahlia. It was a man I had never seen before. He was a vampire, that much I knew. He had black hair with pale skin and awful red eyes (AN, sorry guys, I don't have my New Moon book with me, so I can't remember what Felix or anyone else looks like. If I remember when I get home, I'll fix all my descriptions, but for now, bear with me.).

"Sorry Felix, but I will need you to tell Aro that I will have to refuse his offer." Edward told the man, whose name I figured was Felix. Edward still had his arms around me.

"Well that's a shame. But I don't think you can leave just yet. Aro wishes to meet with you before you leave." Felix replied.

"Okay, Bella, why don't you go get a hotel or something." Edward told me.

"No, the girl comes too," Felix replied, glaring at me, "and bring the other two vampires that are accompanying you. Aro will want to speak with them as well."

"Alice and Jasper?" Edward asked me.

"Hi," Jasper said, as he and Alice walked over to meet us, "Rose and Emmett are in Florence. They were going to come if we needed them to."

"Of course. Carlisle and Esme?" Edward asked.

"In Forks with Bella's and Dahlia's families. Eventually, we need to tell them that we are all okay." Alice said.

"Come one, we must get to a more secluded place." Felix told us as he ushered us to what looked like a low tunnel. We followed him through the tunnel, which was cold and damp, until we came to a drain of sorts, where Felix told us to jump down. There was another member of the Volturi with us, probably to make sure we don't try to make a run for it. This member was another man, who had brilliant red hair that matched his red eyes. He jumped down first, waiting for the next person to go. Alice jumped down after him, with Jasper following as soon as she made it to the ground.

"Ladies first?" Edward asked me, smiling. I smiled in response before jumping down into the black hole. I landed abruptly on the cobblestones, which radiated the cold atmosphere around us. Edward came soon after words.

"Bella, these are the old paths of the vampires from the middle ages!" Edward told me, looking around the dark tunnel.

"Well, they had to find a way around during the day. That is probably why it is so far down. How far from the street do you think we are?" I asked.

"Hmm…I'd have to say about 50 feet at least." Edward replied.

"Wow." I said, looking around.

"Just a little further." Felix told us.

At the end of the tunnel I saw a large wooden door that looked nearly ancient. It was made of dark mahogany wood with a bright silver doorknocker and matching handle. The detailing on the door was amazing. There was a large silver V insignia on the door—probably emblematic of the Volturi—with rubies implanted in the sides, which probably symbolized red eyes or blood. Both the doorknocker and the knob had rubies on it too. The red-haired man went up to the door, and tapped the knocker then said "_la tua catante_" then the door opened. Behind the door was an unimpressive office room with generic white walls and dark grey carpet. The red-haired man walked us past a desk with a young woman sitting at it.

"Hello Gianna." Felix told her, she was very pretty, and definitely human,

"Felix." Gianna replied, giggling.

Felix led us to the elevator, where we saw another vampire walk up. This vampire was much younger—probably in his early teens—and was in a suit.

"Hi Felix." The boy said.

"Hello Alec. Is Jane coming soon?" Alec replied.

"Yes. She was going to meet you in the alley, but she got held up. A human was trying to get into the restricted area, and Jane had already called dibs because I had gotten the last moron." Alec replied.

"Oh, of course." Felix said.

"I see Edward didn't do anything stupid." Alec mentioned.

"No, Bella intercepted him and we got these two soon after." The red-haired man replied, motioning to Jasper who had his arms wrapped around Alice.

"Of course. Well, I will see you both in the hall later. Heidi is returning soon, as well. Goodbye all." Alec replied, getting off the elevator.

We waited on the elevator a little longer before finally arriving at our floor. Felix led us out into a room that seemed perfect for vampires if I still believed in the myths before I had become a myth myself.

The room we entered had stonewalls with tapestries and paintings hanging on the golden walls. There was one wall that had the names of all of the members of the Volturi ever carved into the stones in elegant script. There were no lights, but long slits in place of windows where sun could enter freely and places for candles along the walls for nighttime. I watched—amazed—as we walked past and the sun hit us in beams, making our skin sparkle. The fact that my skin sparkled in the sun never ceased to amaze me. The red-haired man pulling open another large mahogany door that led into another stone room, which was similar to the last, interrupted my momentary gawking.

"Why, hello there, Edward." A man with white hair said.

"Hello, Aro." Edward replied.

"With Alice, Bella, and Jasper too? Why Edward, you should be happy I refused to give you your request." Aro said, smiling at Edward and looking pleased.

"Yes. Of course." Edward replied.

"Now please explain to me what happened." Aro said, looking at all of us.

"Well, I had left home because of a _complication_, and when Alice looked for me, she saw nothing. And she thought I was dead." I told Aro.

"And so Edward decided to be like Romeo and Juliet and kill himself to save himself from the pain of suffering an eternity without his loved one." A new voice said. I looked over and saw a man with black hair and olive-colored skin under the usual chalky-white pallor.

"Ah, Marcus. You came just in time." Aro said, smiling at Marcus. I looked at Edward, confused.

"Marcus sees relationships, he is surprised by how strong ours it." Edward told me.

"Yes, it surprises me that you can feel so strongly for her after only a few months." Marcus said, looking at me.

"I love Bella, she is the only girl I will ever want to be with." Edward replied, pulling me closer.

"Yes, well. The offer to join is still open." Aro told Edward.

"I'm going to have to decline. My place is in Forks with my family." Edward rejoined.

"Bella? Jasper? Alice?" Aro asked, looking at us, "Bella's power of the elements would be helpful. And Alice's third eye. Not to mention Jasper. Oh, the possibilities!" Aro exclaimed.

"No thank you." We all said.

"Very well, I suppose you can go. I must ask you wait until night to leave, the sun is still out, and I don't think Bella's cloud cover can help too much. Here are some robes you can wear on your way out. But before you go, Bella, please come here. I saw in Edward's mind that you aren't succeptable to his power. I want to see if that it the same way with my powers." Aro asked, looking for my permission. I held out my hand in response, Edward had once told me about Aro's powers. His cold skin touched my hand for a second, before dropping it. "Absolutely amazing." He said, "Jane, come here. I want to see if Bella is susceptible to your power." Aro said, calling a young girl whom I had never seen over to me. I gasped when I saw her face. She couldn't have been older than thirteen when she was changed, and she had bright red eyes with full red lips.

"Yes sir." Jane replied, stepping closer to me.

"NO!" Edward roared throwing himself in front of me. Suddenly he was convulsing on the ground in pain as I watched in horror from the side. Then Jane moved her glance from Edward to me. Then looked angry as her sinister glare brought me no pain. Once she gave up, she turned quickly and stalked away, glowering at me before she left the room.

"Are we free to leave now?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, of course. You are free to leave." Aro told us, as another man walked into the room.

"Hello Aro." A man said as we headed to the door.

"Hello Caius. Felix, could you please show Bella, Edward, Alice, and Jasper out? Unless you would like to stay for the meal, because in that case I will have to tell Heidi to bring more food." Aro said.

"No thank you, I am afraid we must be leaving." Edward replied, obviously repulsed.

"Of course, you refrain for human blood. You can never be sure, contacts are a glorious thing. Bella might look fantastic with blue contacts." Aro said, as Felix led us out.

As we were leaving, I looked out and saw people being led into a large, ornately decorated hall.

"Mira, este cuarto es muy hermosa (AN, meaning "look, this room is very beautiful")." A Spanish-speaking tourist said to her husband.

"Wow, how decorated." A loud tourist said as she took a picture with her ancient flash camera. I had to refrain for laughing at her as she snapped another picture of one of the vampires in the room. I wondered what all of these tourists were doing in the Volturi building until it dawned on me. They were the meal. A woman, Heidi I presumed, came into the room. She was very pretty and had on a jean skirt with dark leggings and I could tell that she was not only the one who had collected these people, but also the bait to get them to come. She called out in a clear voice, "Welcome everybody, to Volterra."

"Bella, let's get out of here now!" Edward said, pulling me along. We hadn't even left the building when we heard the doors slam and the screaming start.

We got around to the side of the building where Alice and Jasper said they were going to go for a walk. Edward just pulled me into his lab and began to stroke my hair.

"It's okay, Bells. I'm here, and everything is fine." He told me, kissing my head.

"All those people. They were all killed by vampires." I said, dry-sobbing.

"I know, I know. The Volturi are terrible. I'm sorry you had to see that." He replied, pulling me closer to his chest.

"What do we do now? I want to go home." I told him.

"I suppose we will have to get you a flight back to B.C., I'll talk to Rosalie." Edward replied, looking away.

"No. I'm going back to Forks, that is, if you still want me. I don't want you feeling guilty and going to kill yourself every time Alice can't see me." I told him.

"Bella, I didn't want to kill myself only out of guilt. I mean, I felt guilty, because I had been hypnotized under Dahlia's spell, but also because I couldn't save you. I can't believe that after I had told you that I love you, and everyone had told you that I was hypnotized, that you still believed I didn't love you. Bella, I will always want you. I want you to come back to Forks with me. I need to be with you. I need to spend every possible day with you. I am absolutely nothing without you. Of course, if you are hurt too much to accept me back so easily, I will understand and I will not stop you. But I will never go with Dahlia willingly." Edward told me.

"Never. I will never let you go." I told him, kissing him with as much emotion I could muster up.

"Well, that's awkward!" I heard a familiar voice say.

"EMMETT!" I called, jumping out of Edward's arms to hug him.

"Hey Bella! It's been too long. How have you been?" Emmett asked, hugging me.

"You're asking me this in Volterra? Come on." I replied.

"You're right. Edward, you're an idiot!" Emmett told him.

"What did I do?" Edward asked.

"You became hypnotized and almost screwed someone that wasn't Bella. Idiot." Emmett replied.

"Not. My. Fault. Shut up, Emmett." Edward retorted.

"Yeah, Emmett, shut up. We don't want to hear it." Jasper said, as he and Alice drove up in Emmett and Rosalie's rental car.

"Hey guys!" Rose called to us as she got out of the car with Alice in tow. "Nice to see you alive, Bells."

"Hey Rose," I replied, "nice to see you too. Thanks for coming."

"No problem. It wasn't your idiot brother anyway. But thanks for saving him. Let's head back. I just called Esme and Carlisle and let them know we were still existing." Alice said.

"Is Dahlia's family still there?" I asked, warily.

"Yes. But we are all going to kick Dahlia's butt when we get back. Even Trinity and Hunter are offering to help, and that means she really screwed up this time." Jasper told me.

"No, this is for me and Bella to take care of. She hurt my Bella, and almost got us all killed because of that." Edward growled.

"I agree. I don't want all of you getting dragged into this." I said.

"Sorry to break up this argument, but you are all free to go." The red-haired man told us.

"Okay, thank you." Alice told him, smiling.

After he left, we all piled into the car and left for the airport. Rosalie had managed to get a silver Mazda 3 hatchback and we all fit in, amazingly. I was fairly shocked that six vampires could fit into one car. Alice drove while Edward and I sat in the back never to Jasper. Rosalie and Emmett sat in front and argued over which Italian radio station we would listen to. Edward and I tuned it out while I laid my head on his shoulder and he drew small circles on the back of my hand. Every once in a while he would kiss my head, my forehead, or turn my chin to the side and kiss my lips and tell me he loved me. We gazed out the window for a lot of the ride too, enjoying our time in Italy before getting back on a plane to Forks. Back to Dahlia, back to reality.


	14. Meadow

Chapter 14: Meadow

On the flight back Rosalie managed to get us all first class, again. I inveighed against it, saying that we should have given the tickets to someone who would have enjoyed our first class seats and the fact that he or she could have slept. They all laughed at me. _Stupid prodigal vampires_.

I had the window seat next to Edward, so for most of the flight we had our noses next to the glass, looking outside. We also listened to his iPod until someone hit me in the head and handed me a piece of paper.

_Hey guys! I figured we'd pass notes. I'm bored!_ Alice wrote me.

**Oh, hi Alice. You know, that hurt!** I replied.

_Deal with it. You'll be fine, I saw._

_**Alice…No hurting Bella. I just got her back.**_ Edward wrote.

_I didn't hurt her. You worry too much, you old vampire. Gosh. Geezer walking past…_

HAHA! Edward's a geezer! Emmett added.

_**I'm not a geezer! I'm younger than you are, Emmett!**_

Only physically. Technically you're about 30 years older than I am. (AN, I don't remember the year Emmett was born. I don't have Internet access currently; I'm on a plane, guys!)

_Emmett stop being stupid._ Rosalie wrote.

Whatever.

_Emmett, "whatever" was used up years ago._

_Yeah, Emmett, it's meant for twelve-year-olds._

I'd take twelve over 117 any day!

_**Enough mockery on my expense. Alice, will it be sunny when we get back?**_

_Let me check...blank stare…yes. Crap, Bella hasn't gone to school in a while. Her parents said she was spending some time in a prestigious eastern boarding school. _

**Crap. Stupid school. I miss Canada already.**

_**Bella, how about you and I go for a hike. I know the perfect place.**_

_Oh Edward, I saw that in my vision, Bella's going to love the mead…OW! I mean, what a pretty cloud…oops._

**Wow…I'm not going to ask. Edward, I don't care that Alice almost ruined the surprise; I just want to be with you.**

_**Thanks. No thanks to Mary Alice Brandon Cullen glare.**_

HAHA!

**Emmett, you are so weird.**

_**I concur.**_

_Same._

_**Yo también.**_ Jasper wrote.

_Yep._

_Nice Spanish, Jasper._

_**Thanks! Hey, you guys know that your emotions are messing with my mind? Edward especially…**_

_**Shut up.**_

**Hey guys, I think we should stop. The flight attendants are glaring at us.**

_Aw, darn._

_**But first I think Bella should spill their water.**_

**Why?**

_**They are thinking vulgar thoughts about Jasper, Emmett, and I. And you should also spill that man's water all over his crotch. He is thinking vulgar thoughts about Bella, Alice, and Rose. It makes my brain hurt. **_

_Bella, do it!_

_I agree! Spill that water!_

Yeah!

_**Do it!!! Sorry, their excitement is rubbing off on me. But you should spill it anyway.**_

**Fine. I'll do it. Hold on.**

I looked towards the flight attendants' water first and spilled it all over the ground, and then I looked over to the man's water and spilled it all over his crotch. Edward gave me a blindingly fast high five and everyone else silently applauded. We all laughed but were interrupted by the pilot tell us that we would be landing soon. For the rest of the flight Edward and I talked amongst ourselves and enjoyed the peace before the plane landed.

When we finally got to Seattle's airport we had a large reception waiting for us. My mom, my dad, Esme, Carlisle, Joseph, Liza, Hunter, Trinity, and even Dahlia were waiting in the shadows. Edward and I stiffened when we saw her.

"Oh, Edward! I'm so happy you're okay. I'm sorry I didn't come. Oh hi, Bella. No hard feelings, right?" Dahlia asked.

"Dahlia, what you did was not only wrong, it was unfair! You nearly killed not only Edward and Bella, but Alice and Jasper as well. You should have said 'screw it' the minute you found out Edward had a girlfriend. But no, you just kept going. You know, if Bella hadn't been brave enough to save Edward, I highly doubt that you would have gone to save him. You only care about yourself. You have always cared about yourself. That's why you made us come to this town, so you could meet the 'man of your dreams' but you really ruined the life of another girl who had loved him first. Dahlia, you have to do much more than apologize!" Trinity told Dahlia.

"I agree. You had me under a spell; you hurt Bella more than you'll ever know. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have gone to Italy in the first place." Edward said.

"Dahlia, it was wrong. Just plain wrong." Hunter said.

"Have anything to add, Bella?" Dahlia asked, glaring at me.

"Yeah. I do. I may forgive you somewhat when you _do_ apologize, but I will never forgive you completely. You sent me away purposely. You made Edward hurt me. You forced him to want to be with you. You didn't bother to help when all of us had to fly to freaking Italy so we could save Edward's ass from being killed by the Volturi. Because of you, I was hurt beyond words. You tore my family apart piece by piece. The worst part was that you didn't even care! You didn't care that you were taking Edward from me, you only wanted him. You didn't care whom the hell you stepped on in the process. Dahlia, when you asked me to forgive you, did you take the past few months into account? Did you even think about the pain that _I _went through. While you were in Forks screwing Edward, I was in Vancouver B.C. trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do with the rest of my eternity on this planet, because I surely couldn't go back home. Now ask me to forgive you, because I'm pretty sure you can figure you aren't really forgiven." I told her.

"You know what I think? Having you all rail me is shit. You all think Edward is so great, well, what if he wasn't hypnotized the whole time? What if he enjoyed screwing me just as much? What do you have to say to that?" Dahlia replied, all sense of remorse vanished.

"SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING!" Edward roared at Dahlia.

"I saw that pleasure in your eyes, it was there." Dahlia replied.

"Only because you placed it there. Bella is the only woman who can keep my non-beating heart. You are kidding yourself if you think that I could possibly feel for you the same way I feel for Bella. Bella would never do what you did." Edward told her.

"Dahlia, you have done enough damage. Just go back to the house. I don't think you are welcome at the Cullen's anymore." Liza told her daughter.

"Fine. Go to hell you all. I'm going to offer the Volturi my services. I'll be checking up on you." Dahlia replied.

"Dahlia…" Hunter said.

"Don't you 'Dahlia…' me, I know you all want me gone. It's not like I haven't been offered a position before. I'm just taking it now. They'll welcome me openly. Hunter, Trinity, you guys coming?" She asked.

"No." They replied in unison.

"Dahlia, normally I would ask you to reconsider, but I think this would be good for you. It will give you a chance to go for a while and be with other vampires. I wish you all the luck." Joseph told her, kissing her head.

"Thank you." Was all she said before turning and asking for a plane ticket to Italy.

"Well, Bella, ready to go home?" Alice asked, taking my hand and pulling me towards baggage claim.

"I've been ready for so long. I've missed home; I've missed all of you. Those weeks I spent in B.C. were so long." I replied.

"Bella, when we get back, I think we should go for a walk." Edward told me.

"Oh, right, the surprise that Alice ruined. I still need to get back to school. I've kept up with my schooling long enough to get me through junior year so I wouldn't fail senior year. I got the homework from school so I could graduate, I just explained that my best friend from New Orleans had just lost her parents and I was helping take care of her." I replied.

"I would never let you fail anyway." Edward told me as he pulled me to him and kissed my head.

"Bella, we need to go shopping too. I saw this awesome outfit that you would look amazing in." Alice said.

"Oh right, I saw you draw it out, Alice. I agree. Bella would look phenomenal in it." Rosalie replied.

"Oh look, our bags!" Jasper said, running to grab them.

We finally got our bags and we all packed into the cars to head back home. Edward pulled me to the side and said we were running to the place he was taking me. Suddenly Alice looked over at Edward and squealed.

"Wow, Alice is excited…" I said.

"But she won't blab unless she wants me to hurt her." Edward said.

"Fine, I won't blab. But I think Bella will love it!" Alice replied.

"Okay, enough future telling on my expense. Let's just go already." I said.

"Come on, Bells." Edward told me, taking my hand as we got out of view before we took off running to my surprise.

We ran for a few minutes, I watched in wonder as the scenery passed me by. I hadn't been so at peace in a while. I missed Forks, I really did. I never thought I would miss the comforting woods of Forks. But part of it could be that I missed Edward more than words could possibly describe.

We kept running and I noticed we had left the freeway and were now traveling through the deep woods. I was constantly awed by the beauty that surrounded me in those woods. Forks was a one-of-the-kind place.

After having run for a good 15 minutes, we finally made it to a clearing where we slowed down to a walk and Edward took my hand.

"Bella, I love this place, and I figured if I wanted to share everything with you, then I wanted to share this meadow too. I fell in love with this place when I first found it, same with when I met you. " Edward told me, looking into my topaz eyes.

"I feel the same way. How did you find this place?" I replied, looking around the beautiful meadow. It was perfectly round with flowers of every color bordering it and a bubbling stream about 50 feet back. The sun seemed to be shining in from every direction, making small pools of sunlight around us.

"One day while I was hunting, before you came here." He replied.

"It's beautiful." I told him.

"Just like you, Isabella Marie Swan." He told me, pulling me into his arms to kiss me.

"So Dahlia's really gone?" I asked, smiling into his lips.

"Yes. I can finally be with you. I swear, you're a danger magnet, Bella."

"Thanks…But you still love me anyway." I replied. It wasn't a question.

"Of course. I love you, Bella."

"I love you too, Edward."

"How long do we have before we have to get back?" I asked.

"Well, it's about 10 pm right now. I think we should get back around 2 am at latest. Alice will want to drag you off later." Edward told me.

"Oh, right. _Shopping_." I replied.

"Although after not having had you for a few weeks, I think it's wrong that she's stealing you from me. But I saw that outfit she drew, and I think it will be worth it."

"Of course _you'd_ think so. You are a bit biased."

"Oh well. Those guys at school aren't biased. They'll be gawking all day…wait. In that case, how about you go wearing something else. Only _I_ can gawk at my Bella."

"Maybe I should go wearing a bikini…" I wondered to myself, to piss off Edward.

"You wouldn't dare. That is for my eyes, and my eyes only." He growled.

"True…"

We mocked each other for a little while longer before we lay down (AN, I know it looks like it should be laid, but my English teacher drilled into our heads that you have to have an object to use the verb "laid."). Then we talked for the rest of the time. He asked about my days in B.C. and what I did to pass the time. When I asked about home, he reminded me that he had been hypnotized.

"What was it like to be hypnotized?" I asked.

"Like you couldn't feel your emotions and had no control over your actions. I didn't want to kiss Dahlia, but there was this voice in the back of my head making me. It was terrible. I was so happy she couldn't hypnotize you. Nothing felt worse than knowing I couldn't protect you from being hurt." Edward told me.

"But you didn't sleep with her." I reminded him.

"No, but I almost did. Her hold is very strong, don't doubt that. But even though she was controlling my mind, I couldn't forget you like she had tried to make me do. It made her angry when I didn't sleep with you. She nearly had a tantrum when I said your name."

"But how did you break free?" I asked, remembering how he went to Italy when he thought I had died.

"My willpower was slowly breaking, and I'm not sure how much longer I could have held off. But while Dahlia's hold was strengthening, I heard a voice yelling out. But it wasn't mine; it was Trinity's voice. I heard her tell Dahlia to break off, that Bella was dead, that I needed to know. Suddenly the bond shattered, I opened my eyes for the first time in weeks. I searched Trinity's mind, hoping she was joking, but I saw what she had gotten Alice's thoughts. I saw her searching and finding nothing. Hunter told me he had tried too, and gotten nothing as well. I knew you were gone. So I left." Edward told me.

"Wow. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Edward asked.

"I've brought so much pain to your family."

"No, you've brought happiness. Carlisle and Esme couldn't be any happier. Alice, Rose, Emmett, and Jasper all love you. Even Dahlia's family was worried. You don't give yourself enough credit."

"Thanks."

"Come on, we should head back. It's 1:45. If I could hear Alice, she would be yelling at me through her mind.

"Okay. I love you." I told him.

"I love you too." Edward replied.

AN, sorry for the delay…but I need your opinions. I want Edward to propose to Bella, but I want to know if you guys think it would work. I've been building up plot lines, so it's okay if he doesn't propose. But thank you so much for the reviews! They've kept me typing.


	15. Ball

Chapter 15: Ball

We ran back to Edward's house, which had been quickly becoming my house as well. I swear, I spend so many hours a day at that house. It wasn't just because of Edward. Alice was my best friend and I loved spending time at that house.

We got back around 2:00 am and Alice, who met us at the door, was jumping up and down.

"Bella! It won't get sunny until later tomorrow, so we can go to school! Come on, I want to get you ready for your first day back!" Alice told me.

"Gosh Alice, I don't want to see you on prom. Please tell me I missed it…" I replied.

"Yes, you did. But I will still find a way to dress you up for something else, something better than prom." Alice said.

"Oh no…well let me see this 'amazing outfit' that you are forcing me into." I told her.

"Okay!" Alice said, as Edward followed us. "Edward get back! And no peaking, I want this to be a surprise!"

"Fine!" Edward shouted before yelling for Jasper. _Oh no, what is he going to do to Jasper? Poor Jasper._

Alice dragged me upstairs and pulled me into her room and began pulling stuff out of her big-ass closet. I was amazed at how much stuff she could cram into that closet, which happened to be bigger than my old room was in New Orleans.

Suddenly Alice squealed, and came running out holding a deep burgundy cashmere sweater with a white lacy tank top to go under it, tight dark wash jeans, and a pair of dark brown boots that matched the dark brown messenger bag she was also carrying.

"It's perfect!!!" She screamed, throwing the clothes on me. I went to change, enjoying the warmth and softness of the cashmere. The white lacy tank top stuck out a bit at the bottom and contrasted amazingly with the darkness of the jeans and the boots seemed to finish the jeans off perfectly.

"Wow, Alice. This is fantastic!" I told her, spinning around to look at myself in the mirror.

"Come on, I need to do your hair and make up." Alice told me before dragging me into the bathroom.

She straightened my hair and then curled the bottoms so they would frame my face and then used a little shimmery pink eye shadow and mascara with a tiny bit of blush before smiling and admiring her work. By the time she was done, we had about two hours before we had to leave for school. My mom and dad had already called the school and told them some lie about my enrolling in a Canadian school, but I still wanted to keep up with my Forks work, so I shouldn't be behind—and I wasn't. I hoped that I could see Edward by then, but Alice was adamant in keeping me in her room until the last minute so Edward couldn't ruin her work by kissing me.

She explained to me how finals were at the end of this week and if I passed then I could go on to senior year. She also told me how that weekend Carlisle's hospital was having a summer ball, and they would be dragging me with them. I dreaded the fact that Alice would be pulling me into a frilly dress that belonged on a runway rather than at a hospital ball. I considered running from her, but she told me she had seen my running, and it didn't end well on my behalf.

After a few hours of torture, Alice finally freed me from her room. The minute I left her room I immediately ran to Edward's room. I didn't notice him walking out and ran straight into him. Before I could fall he pulled me to his chest and brushed my hair back into place.

"Perfect." He whispered before kissing me.

"Thank you, that would be all _my_ doing!" Alice said as she walked past.

"You've done very well. She looks more beautiful than before, not that she didn't already look nearly as beautiful. I pity those poor children at school, they won't be able to have you." Edward replied.

"You act as if you own me, Edward Cullen." I told him.

"No one could ever own you, Bells." Edward replied.

"Good answer." I said, before kissing him.

"So I hear we have a ball this weekend. Is this so you can show me off?" I asked.

"Of course. And so I can dance with you and hold you recklessly close."

"You mean like now?"

"Oh, it will be nothing compared to now. I can hold you even closer while we dance and I will have an excuse."

"Do you even need an excuse to hold me close?" I asked.

"No, but I like to have one, just the same. I can't hold you like this in school." He replied, tracing his fingertips up my spinal cord.

"I wish you could hold me like this all the time. Forget school."

"I wish I could stay the same, but you still need to graduate for the first time. Once you graduate we can wait a couple of years before we go to college or go back to high school. I suggest we get college done with first, though. Trust me, you'll want to get it done with while high school is still fresh in your memory."

"I suppose so. We should be leaving soon anyway." I told him, pressing my lips to his once more before turning and heading to the door.

"Wait, I wasn't done just yet." He replied before pulling me back to him and kissing me passionately.

"Whoa there, kids. Let's keep this house G-rated. We have to be getting to school anyway. Good thing I 'graduate' this weekend. I don't know how much more of this school shit I can take." Emmett said as he walked down the stairs.

"LANGUAGE, EMMETT!" Esme shouted from the upstairs room.

"Sorry, mom." Emmett replied.

"Don't even talk Emmett. Don't be forgetting that I can read your mind, and I don't like seeing Rosalie in tight lingerie." Edward said.

"Then don't look." Emmett replied.

"How about waiting until I'm a few miles away before you start reliving your 'Rosalie fantasies'. It would make my life a whole lot easier." Edward told him.

"Can we freaking go to school already? I want to show off Bella!" Alice said as she ran down the stairs and came to a fluid stop in front of us.

"Fun…" I said as I walked towards the door.

After a few minutes, we finally got all of the Cullens out of the house and into their respective cars. Alice and Jasper drove with Edward and I, leaving Rosalie and Emmett with Rosalie's car. We left for school and I was free to dread the rest of the day.

After arriving at school I had many girls asking if I was okay and telling me that they loved my outfit. Alice would always show up right before they complimented what I was wearing so she could tell them that it was all her doing.

We were sitting at the lunch table when Jonathon came over to our table.

"Hi Bella. Can I talk to you?" He asked.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, my mom is a nurse at the hospital, and there is that ball this weekend, and I was just wondering if you wanted to go with me, like as a date?" Jonathon asked.

"Um, no thank you." I replied.

"Why not? Come on, we'll have tons of fun." He told me.

"Because I'm dating Edward and we are going together." I replied.

"Well, I don't know if you knew this, but Edward cheated on you while you were gone." Jonathon told me. _Shit, how do I explain that?_

"That was a misunderstanding, it was…and old friend that he was hanging out with. Besides, it's none of your damn business." I told him.

"It didn't like an 'old friend,' it looked like they were pretty cozy. I think you deserve someone who won't treat you like that. Just come with me to the ball." He replied.

"How many more times can I say no so you will know I mean it?" I asked.

"I don't take no for an answer, Miss Bella Marie." Jonathon replied.

"Gosh I hate it when you southerners use my full name. And I refuse to go with you, I love Edward and no one can separate us." I told him.

"Come on, Bella. I know Edward cheated on you, once a cheater, always a cheater. He probably doesn't love you back!" Jonathon said.

"You're wrong you piece of shit! I have loved Bella and will always love her for as long as I exist! You cannot say I don't love her. You know nothing." Edward rebuked.

"I know I am right. I think Bella should be with someone who won't hurt her like you did. Someone like me." Jonathon replied.

"Never." I told Jonathon.

"I believe Bella has told you no. You should leave now before I hurt you." Edward said.

"Fine Bella, I'll see you at the ball. Save me a dance." Jonathon replied.

"Damn I hate that kid." Jasper said after Jonathon had walked away, we all burst out laughing.

"Bella, you should have lit his pants on fire. That would have wiped that smirk clear off his face." Alice said.

"True, I would have loved to see that." Rosalie replied right before the bell rang.

The next few days passed in a blur. Jonathon continued his persistence in trying to get me to attend the ball with him, but I rebuffed. Before I knew it, junior year was over and the summer ball was the next day. The night before we had all gone to the older Cullens' graduation to see Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper graduate for the fiftieth time. Tonight was the night that Alice and I would go hunting then hang out and watch movies before preparing for the ball the next day.

We had just finished watching the Gilmore Girls and House season DVD's when Alice decided we would start getting ready for the ball. It was noon by that time and we had six hours until the ball. Alice dragged me to the shower and told me I could use Edward's while she used hers.

Being in Edward's shower was fantastic, it smelled like him and I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I was using his shower. I had just gotten out and I was wrapped in a towel when Edward walked in.

"Oh shit Bella, I'm sorry!" Edward said, turning around.

"It's okay, it's not like you haven't seen me in a swimsuit before." I replied.

"I know, but I have been always taught to be a gentleman, and staring at his girlfriend in a towel isn't something a gentleman does." Edward said.

"Well, I don't mind your staring. In fact, I think you should stare some more." I said, walking towards him.

"I'm very tempted, Bella." Edward replied, kissing me and running his hands along my back.

"BELLA, EDWARD! I SAW WHAT YOU TWO WERE GETTING READY TO DO AND I NEED TO GET BELLA READY FOR THE BALL! MOVE YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM THE TOWEL, EDWARD!" Alice shouted from her bathroom.

"Well, that's embarrassing." I said.

"I agree, but let me first do one thing." Edward said, as he kissed my bare shoulder causing me to shudder.

"I love you, Bella." Edward told me.

"I love you too." I replied.

Suddenly Alice was walking into the bathroom and dragging me off. She told me afterwards that she had told Edward that he would thank her later.

After two hours of plucking and torturing, Alice was finally done with my make up and she had put my hair into a loose, curly bun and she tied it with a deep blue ribbon that she said matched my dress. She then pulled my dress from her closet. It was beautiful! It was a deep blue strapless dress that went to the floor. It had a sheer material on top that had pretty beaded and embroidered designs on it. She even had a silver wraparound necklace and bracelet to match it with silver dangle earrings. It was perfect.

Alice wore a long black silk dress with silver designs that hugged her petite figure perfectly and had on a diamond necklace, bracelet, and earrings set. She was just putting the finishing touches on her make up when Carlisle called from downstairs and told us it was time to go. We all piled into our cars, Edward, Jasper, Alice, and I in his Aston Martin V12 Vanquish (AN, I absolutely _love_ those cars! They are so pretty, of course they cost so much that I never see any Vanquishes. I usually just see V8's.) and the others took Carlisle's car.

As we drove to the ball I thought about Edward's reaction when he saw me. His jaw dropped and he was speechless. Alice beamed, knowing that she had done well. He pulled me close again and kissed me, telling me how amazing I looked. He looked imposing too with his black tuxedo and silver tie. The black looked stunning against his pale skin. I didn't realize how long I hadn't been paying attention until the car stopped and Edward opened the door for me so he could take my hand and help me out of the car. We entered the beautiful hotel in Port Angeles where the hospital was holding the ball where I could see hundreds of beautifully dressed people spinning around the dance floor to the elegent music. Edward took my hand and pulled me to the dance floor where we spun like the other couples next to the rest of the Cullens. Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad.

AN, here are the links for Bella's outfit:

Dress: pretend it's a deep blue color

in silver

http://shop. 


	16. Topaz

AN, I know my links didn't work, so I posted them into my profile. Here is the awaited chapter, so to speak, and the link for Bella's ring is also in my profile. Thank you for voting though, it made my writing so much easier. I would also like to thank Twilight-lvr, Kaela, and Shree for helping me choose the color of Bella's ring.

Chapter 16: Topaz

Edward and I danced for a half an hour until I finally begged him to give me a rest. He pulled me away from the other spinning couples towards the food table and he began filling up two napkins of food for the both of us.

"Edward, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm getting us food." He replied like it was obvious.

"Food that I won't be able to eat, Mr. Oh-So-Smart Vampire." I told him.

"Doesn't mean we can't pretend. Besides, we have to pass for humans long enough for us to graduate. Then we are leaving here." Edward said.

"What is the story going to be?" I asked.

"Well, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper will have gone to college, and Carlisle and Esme were waiting for the younger Cullens to graduate before they could move." Edward explained.

"Where are they going?" I queried.

"We have been talking about going to either Portland, Oregon, or Edinburgh, Scotland. You can come if you wish. If you want to go to college, I won't stop you. Of course, I would love to accompany you through your college experience." Edward told me.

"I need to go to college. Like you said, I want to get college done with while high school is still fresh in my mind. But I would love for you to accompany me. Of course, I haven't even sent out my college applications. I'm screwed."

"You don't need to worry. Alice looked into your future a while ago and sent out applications to schools you were going to apply to."

"And which schools were those?" I asked.

"University of Oregon, Oregon State, University of Washington, Vassar College, University Of Edinburgh, Yale, and Northern Arizona University. We got your letters back already, too. You've been accepted to all of them. (AN, I know that seems horrible unlikely, but bear with me. I felt bad to have a college decline Bella. I mean, she's _Bella_!)"

"Wow, even Yale?" I asked.

"Yes, they figured you would make a good addition to the college. Of course, it's your choice."

"Where haven't you gone?"

"University of Edinburgh, University of Oregon, Oregon State, and Vassar College."

"I think I like the idea of University of Edinburgh. I've always wanted to go to Scotland."

"You want me to come with you, right?" He asked.

"Edward, I want to spend eternity with you, of course I want you to come to college with me."

"You really want to spend eternity with me?"

"Always and forever. Please come to college with me. Is Alice coming too?" I asked.

"Of course, it's Alice we are talking about. She had probably seen your decision and sent out the letters back to the college telling them that we are all attending. (AN, I don't know how that whole college thing works, of course I'm going to have to start applying for colleges this year. Darn you, junior year…)"

"The other Cullens are coming too?" I asked.

"Probably. I'm sure that Jasper and Alice are coming, I don't know about Rose and Emmett. They might want to pretend to be a married couple and live in another country for a few years. What about your parents?"

"I have talked to my parents and they think that they will stick around here for a few more years and then come and meet us the next place that we are going."

"Are you sure you want to be separated from them?" He asked.

"You are my family, Edward. I want nothing more than to be with you. Why are you so worried about me wanting to leave you or something?"

"Because I do not want you to regret anything. I love you, Bella."

"I could never regret being with you. You have saved me from so many dangers. I will always want to be with you. You seem so unsure of yourself. Who are you, and what have you done with my Edward?"

"Your Edward…I like it." He murmured, kissing me.

"I like this too…" I replied, kissing him back.

"Um, pardon me, but I believe that Miss Isabella has promised to save me a dance. Cullen, care to give us some privacy?" A voice said from behind us.

I reluctantly turned around to see who was behind us. It was Jonathon in a black tuxedo with a deep blue tie and waistband thing that somehow matched the exact color of my dress. _He must have been spying on me…what a stalker. That is one more reason to hate Jonathon Bloom._ "Oh right, that dance. It's okay, I guess. Come on." I told him, grudgingly took his offered arm as he led me to the dance floor.

The next song that came on was a slow song, and I wish it had been a worse song. Because it was a song I liked, it was an instrumental version of Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World on violin. Jonathon pulled me close to him and began dancing while I protested to no avail. Only Edward could hold me that close. Jonathon continued to dance with me and I stiffened up. I couldn't wait for the song to be over so I could return to Edward. Suddenly Jonathon tightened his grip on my and grabbed my butt. _WHOA THERE! _

"JONATHON! Get your damned hand off of my ass before I kill you!" I growled.

"Oh come on, Bella. Let's ditch this place; I know a nice hotel down the street from here. We can have some real fun." Jonathon told me, lustfully.

"What slut do you take me for, Jonathon? I will _not_ have sex with you! I have a boyfriend whom I love very much and whom I even came with tonight. Give me one good reason to why I would even consider sleeping with you?" I ranted.

"Because you know you want it." He replied moving my hand toward his pants before a white hand flashed out and threw him away from me.

"DON'T YOU EVER DARE TOUCH BELLA AGAIN!" Edward roared.

"We were just dancing. Edward, you have some control issues." Jonathon sneered.

"You freaking liar! You were trying to get me to sleep with you!" I growled.

"Get away from her, scum." Edward told Jonathon.

"Why should I?" Jonathon asked.

"We have a few good reasons." Jasper said as he and Emmett walked over to us.

"What are you going to do?" Jonathon asked them.

"Suck your blood." Emmett replied.

"No really…what will you do to stop me from taking Bella right now?" Jonathon asked again.

"I will punch you so hard…" Emmett growled.

"Don't make us hurt you." Jasper said stepping closer.

"Leave. Her. Alone." Edward said, forming the words into sentences.

"No freaking way, I saw her first!" Jonathon said.

Suddenly Jasper, the empath who was normally very nonviolent, punched Jonathon in the stomach using human force. "Now leave!" Jasper growled.

"You know what? Have her. She's got her own damned secret service or something. It's not worth it." Jonathon said, getting up and stalking out towards the parking lot.

I stared open-mouthed after him. I couldn't believe Emmett, Jasper, and Edward just kicked his butt.

"He's wrong you know, you are worth it, Bella." Edward told me, kissing me.

"Edward…why don't you take Bella home? I can only imagine how much more chaos you two would ensue by staying here. Besides, I remember Alice telling me about your plans." Carlisle hinted.

"We aren't that bad, but thank you for reminding me about my plans, Carlisle. I think I will take Bella back. I will see you at home. Thanks Emmett, Jasper. You guys are great. Tell Alice thanks also. Come on, Bella." Edward said as he took my hand and led me back outside.

"What are these plans?" I asked.

"Oh, something I set up in the backyard for you." Edward replied as we got into his car and left for home (since I practically lived there now).

The ride was quiet as I looked out the window and Edward stroked my hand, kissing my wrist every once in a while. About 45 minutes later we arrived back at the Cullen house and Edward led me out of the car and into the back yard.

"I wanted this to be special for you, after how long this year has been. Alice, Esme, and Rosalie helped set it up. They also hope you like it." Edward explained as we walked through the tall wood fence that bordered the edge of his backyard.

I gasped when we entered the backyard. The trees had been strung with lights that made them shine like crystals, torch lights had been put into the grounds that lit the area with a warm glow, and there were flowers on the ground. It looked _beautiful_.

"Bella, ever since I met you I have been so happy. You have changed my life and I could never live without you. You are like the shooting star that passed across the dark sky that was my life. I love you, and will always love you. Please Bella, I would be honored if you would grant me the pleasure of being my wife so we can spend the rest of eternity together," Edward said, as he got down on one knee. "Bella, will you marry me?"

I couldn't believe it. Edward was proposing. He wanted to be with me for the rest of our existence. Not Dahlia, not any other human who has ever hit on him, but me, Isabella Marie Swan. He wanted me. I was utterly speechless. But I would always want him, forever.

"Bella, you're wounding my ego. I just proposed to you and you are staring at me like I'm nuts!" Edward said.

"Yes, Edward. Of course I will marry you! I would love to be your wife." I told him putting my hands on his face.

"Thank you! You have just made me that happiest man on this planet!" Edward shouted before pulling a small, black velvet box from his tuxedo coat. "I believe this is yours."

He took my left hand and put a white gold ring with an oval topaz in the center and two small circular diamonds on the side with "my southern star" engraved on the back.

"Edward, it's beautiful." I told him, admiring the ring.

"I chose the topaz because it's the color of our eyes and the two diamonds because of the stars, and the engraving because you are my star from the south that lights my sky." Edward explained.

"I love it! Thank you for making me so happy." I told him.

"I love you, Bella Cullen." Edward told me.

"I love you too, Edward Cullen." I replied, kissing him. Suddenly we heard applause.

"Wow, you finally had the confidence to propose, little brother!" Emmett yelled.

"So Bella will finally be a legal part of this family, and not just a girl who spends most of her day at our house?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, and yes, idiots," Alice said. "I'm so happy you finally proposed, Edward!"

"Congratulations." Esme and Rosalie told us.

"I'm so proud to call you my daughter, Bella." Carlisle said to me.

"Thank you so much. But I already thought of you all as my second family, anyway. I guess this ring just makes it official." I told them all, smiling hugely.

"Oh my gosh, let me see the ring!" Alice squealed, running over to my so she could suspect the ring.

"Edward picked it out all on his own!" Esme said.

"It's beautiful, Edward. I can't believe you picked out a ring this nice!" Alice told him.

"I tend to do that once in a while." Edward replied.

"So, when do you think the wedding will be?" Rosalie asked.

"We were thinking this winter, because that gives us a few months to prepare and we can get married over winter break. Bella also decided that we should go to the University of Edinburgh, and we wanted to see if you all wanted to come too." Edward explained.

"Of course, college would be nothing without the Cullens!" Emmett said.

"Oh, SCOTLAND! I can't wait!" Alice said.

"It's been a while since we've gone to Scotland." Jasper said.

"I need to start looking for a house! Carlisle, you need to start finding a job, and getting us all visas!" Esme ordered.

"Calm down, Esme. Everything will be fine." Carlisle told his wife.

"Yeah, Mom. Calm down, your worrying is giving me a headache." Jasper told Esme.

"I know, I know…I'm sorry. You just need to know that I have to make all of the preparations for our leaving. Bella, do your parents know about your decision?" Esme asked.

"No, I need to tell them about both the engagement and where we are moving to." I said.

"Well, I suppose you two should do it now." Carlisle told us.

"He's right, Bells. We need to tell your parents that you are going to be Mrs. Isabella Marie Swan Cullen soon." Edward said.

"You just love saying that, don't you?" I asked.

"Of course. It sounds so right." Edward replied.

"Come on, let's go. I want to hang out tonight too. Jasper, you coming?" Alice asked.

"Sure, we can hang out tonight." Jasper said.

"Bella, we _need_ to go wedding dress shopping ASAP!" Alice told me.

"Alice, wait till you get to Europe before you buy a wedding dress." Edward said.

"You're right! Oh my goodness, I will find you the _best _dress ever." Alice exclaimed.

We all talked some more about it as we went upstairs to change so we could run to my house in regular clothes. I just put on a pair of dark torn jeans and a thick white sweater with a pair of white tennis shoes. I met Edward outside of his room and he kissed me passionately before Alice and Jasper met us in the hallway.

"Come on, let's get this over with." I stated, as I broke from Edward's kiss and led the three other vampires to the door.

"Bella, everything will be okay. Your parents love Edward. They will be happy that he proposed to you." Alice told me.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I've seen it. Everything will be alright, trust me." She replied.

"Bella, I love you, and I promise everything will be okay. Let's go." Edward told me as we all ran towards my house.


	17. Explanations

AN, thank you so much for all of the reviews for last chapter! I think chapter 16 got the most reviews out of all of the chapters I have ever written for this story! I'm deciding on whether or not to continue their travels through Scotland within this story, or just start a new sequel with a different title.

Chapter 17: Explanations

It was pitch black and there was a full moon out while we ran to my house. Edward held my hand as I examined my beautiful engagement ring. We weren't even paying attention long enough to notice that Alice had stopped and was staring into the sky. We were behind Alice and Jasper, and we didn't notice her halting until it was too late and we bounded into her, throwing all of us onto the ground.

"Alice, why did you just stop mid-run?" Jasper and I asked.

"Look up, Bella." She replied.

"Why?"

"Because I said so, trust me, you'll love it!"

I looked up to the sky and gasped. The clouds were gone, meaning I could actually see the stars and the moon for the first time in a while. The sky seemed so much vaster than it had been in New Orleans. The stars and moon even seemed brighter and bigger.

"I know, amazing, isn't it?" Alice asked, in that know-it-all manner.

"Yes, and so much more!" I replied.

I looked up again, admiring the sky and felt Edward's hand stroking my own.

"The stars remind me of the diamonds on my ring, they are just as beautiful as stars." I said.

"I'm glad you like it." Edward told me.

"It will remind me of you, I will always love it." I replied.

"You know, if we want to have any time, we should go tell Bella's parents about the engagement." Jasper reminded us.

"Oh, right. Can't we just send them a card that says 'We're engaged!' or something?" I asked.

"Because, they are your parents, Bella." Alice replied.

"How will they take it?" I asked.

"They'll be happy, Bella. They love Edward and the rest of us. Stop worrying. Come on!" Alice said as she grabbed my hand and took off running with me towed behind her and Edward next to her.

We ran for a few more minutes as the forest sped past us and then finally lessened and I saw my house a little ways up. Slowing to a walk, Alice and Edward led the way to the door before unlocking it and pushing it open.

"Charlie, Renée, we have some news for you!" Alice called into the house.

"Yes, honey?" My mom replied as she walked down the stairs with Charlie entering from the kitchen.

"Edward and Bella have something to tell you." Jasper told them.

"Well?" My dad asked.

"Mom, Dad, we are engaged…" I told them, looking down embarrassed.

"Oh my, congratulations!" My mom told me, pulling me into a hug.

"Welcome to the family, Edward, Alice, and Jasper." My dad said.

"Thanks, Charlie." Alice said.

"So when is the wedding?" My mom asked.

"We were thinking over winter break this coming school year." Edward told them.

"A winter wedding, very beautiful. Speaking of school, Bella, do you know where you are going to go yet?" My mom asked.

"We decided on University of Edinburgh in Scotland." I told them.

"That's a good school. Is everyone going?" Charlie asked.

"Yes. Emmett, Rosalie, and I are pretending that we waited a year for college, and so we will all be freshmen. Carlisle is going to apply for a job in Edinburgh as well." Jasper told them.

"Wow, five Cullens and a Swan going to the university. I'm scared to see how that will end up." My mom said.

"Hey, we aren't that bad!" I protested.

"Bella, I remember you almost burning the school down earlier this year!" My dad said.

"THAT WASN'T ME!" I exclaimed.

"Sure, honey." My mom told me.

"Grr…" I replied.

"I call them like a see them." She told me.

"But after you get married, what are you going to have your name as? Because you can't legally be a Cullen and date Edward at the same time without raising some eyebrows. I suppose you could go by Swan, but that would be weird to see some other Swans in another city or the same city." My dad told me.

"I know, I was thinking about that. I thought having my last name as Masen, Edward's original last name. So that even though we are married, no one will know." I told him.

"That's a good idea. But how will you fit into the whole Cullen mess?" My mom asked.

"Well, she can be Carlisle's orphaned niece." Alice said.

"Wow, that's so confusing." I said.

"Has it ever not been confusing?" Jasper asked.

"True. Bella will be subject to the incest gossip like the rest of us." Edward added.

"Oh well…it's a Cullen pastime!" I replied.

"True. Listening to people saying '(insert lame preppy/valley girl accent) Ehmygod, they _are _together and they _live_ together too? Aren't they like 17 or something? SCANDAL!'" Alice said waving her arms, causing all of us to burst out laughing.

"Alice, you have that accent down perfectly!" Jasper said in between laughs.

"I agree…how did you manage that?" Edward asked.

"Listen to Jessica Stanley. She talks just like that. Of course, poor Edward, you have to hear her when she's not talking." Alice said.

"Yes, it makes reading minds extremely annoying at times." Edward replied.

"Oh, by the way, Bella, we never got a chance to see your ring!" My mom piped in.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot!" I said as I slipped the ring off of my finger to show to my mom and dad.

"Oh, honey, it's so beautiful. I like the topaz, it really adds to the ring!" My mom said.

"Edward picked it out, I'm very proud of him." I told her, like a proud soccer mom talking about her kid's achievements.

"You did very well, Edward." My mom replied.

"Well, sorry to break all of this up, but I have to get going, I just got a call from the station and there has been a car accident near Port Angeles. I'll see you all soon." My dad told us, kissing my head and my mom's cheek before he put on his gun belt and left the house.

"I'm so proud of him, he's really perfected his self-control." My mom said.

"Well, if the people were drunk they probably wouldn't smell good anyway." Jasper told her.

"True." My mom replied.

"Well, we should get going too. We'll want to tell the rest of the Cullens about the new addition to our family." Alice said.

"Bye mom!" I told her as we left the house.

Once we were near the woods we took of running towards the Cullen house. As we ran through the woods, we heard growling. It was getting louder and I could smell something that had an odor of 100 wet dogs locked in a small room. Werewolves. Edward, Alice, and Jasper stiffened next to me and we turned to find six werewolves standing in front of us.

"What are you doing out here so late at night, blood suckers?" One of the wolves asked.

"Seeing family," Jasper replied. "What does it matter to you, dogs?"

"There has been a car accident nearby, are you sure you aren't heading over to drink the blood of some innocent humans like the leeches you are?" Another wolf asked.

"We don't hunt humans." Alice reminded them.

"Doesn't mean you aren't a threat." The tallest wolf replied.

"I don't think you are supposed to be on our land, anyway. Why are you here?" Edward asked.

"There's another vampire coven circling into Forks. They cannot stay, they drink human blood." The tallest wolf said.

"Well, soon that won't be a problem, we are leaving for Scotland soon. We have to go to college." I told them.

"Aren't the Swan vampires staying?" Another wolf asked.

"Yes, I suppose. But they weren't the ones that signed the treaty. Besides, I know my dad will do anything in his power to save the people of Forks from these people." I replied.

"Where is he?" The tallest wolf asked.

"At the accident site, he has self-control and he is holding his breath, do not worry. The humans will be fine." I replied.

"A controlled vampire? HA!" Another wolf spat.

"Don't doubt his self-control. Can we leave now?" I asked.

"I suppose so. When are the Cullens and Swan going to leave?" The tallest asked us.

"This summer." Edward replied.

"Good. Tell us when you leave. Goodbye." The tallest said before the wolves bounded off into the darkness.

"Jacob's pack." Alice told me.

"Where was Jacob?" Jasper asked.

"Probably on vacation. I remember my dad saying something about Billy going on vacation." I replied.

"Oh, okay." Edward said as he grabbed my hand and we ran back to his house to tell him family about the wolves.

As soon as we arrived at the house, we ran inside to tell everyone what had just happened. Everyone stared open-mouthed at us as we reported out story. Once we finished there was silence for a millisecond before Esme spoke.

"What do we do, Carlisle?" Esme asked.

"I don't know. I think we should wait it out, we are moving within a few weeks anyway. I am notifying the hospital that I will be resigning from my position tomorrow. Then I suppose, Esme, that you should make a trip to Edinburgh soon to find us a home." Carlisle said.

"What about this house? Don't you have to sell it?" I asked.

"We'll wait a bit before we sell it. There will still be some unfinished business to do, here in Forks after we leave." Carlisle replied.

"Like what?" I asked.

"We will need to withdraw from the treaty and make sure that there will have been no traceable evidence that the Cullens have ever lived in Forks, at least for the next hundred years or so before we decide to return. We should also explain this to Bella's parents so they know the proper protocol for a vampire's leaving." Esme said.

"Okay. But I suppose my parents will have to follow the treaty as well, right?" I asked.

"Of course. I suppose we will wait until they leave before we withdraw from the treaty." Carlisle explained.

"I suppose we should start boxing up the basement soon. Edward, please clean up your CD's. I can only imagine how many boxes those will take up, and the piano too. I'm going to have to call a moving company so we can ship all of this stuff overseas. I shudder at the thought. Who would have figured that after hundreds of years, we still haven't mastered the art of moving?" Esme stated.

"What is _in_ the basement, anyway?" I asked.

"You'll find out soon enough, but trust me, it's sensory overload. We have so much stuff that has been collected over the past centuries that it's not even funny. Our new house will have to have a heck of a basement to fit all of this crap." Jasper said.

"How big is the basement?" I asked, afraid to find out.

"About 5,000 or so square feet." Rosalie said.

My jaw dropped. "5,000?" I squeaked.

"Bigger than your average house, I know. And we can barely walk through it. We actually built a bridge system so we could walk over it and jump down and grab what we needed. We call it the 'Cullen Cave'." Edward told me, laughing at the nickname.

"Sounds very vampiric." I laughed.

"Yep, it's perfect for the vampire myths. We might even have some dead bodies hidden down there…" Jasper mused.

"What? I hope not!" I exclaimed.

"He's just kidding, Bells. At least, I think he's kidding. You'd never know with Emmett and Jasper. They could have found a mummy that they thought was cool and then put it in the basement." Alice told me.

"Hey, we've only done that once!" Emmett said.

"But you've still done it. Only two idiots would try to put a mummy in a vampire's basement." Rosalie said.

"Oh gosh, I remember having to make up some pathetic story about how we 'found the mummy in our basement when we moved in and my two boys tried to open it, so that's why the casing is messed up.'" Esme reminisced.

"You tried to open it?" I exclaimed.

"What? That would have been so cool if we could have!" Jasper told me.

"Idiots." I replied.

"Of course Edward didn't know what had happened so when he saw a half-wrapped mummy in his room on the couch he started screaming like a little girl, shouting things like, 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? WHY IS THERE A MUMMY IN MY BEDROOM???' And so on." Emmett said.

"You put the mummy in his room?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"What else would we have done with it, I couldn't have put it in my room without Alice killing me, and Emmett couldn't have put it in his room without Rosalie murdering him. And we sure as hell couldn't put it near Carlisle or Esme without being grounded for eternity. So obviously, the only option left was Edward's precious bedroom. Of course, it didn't end well. He beat us to a pulp." Jasper explained.

"Well I should have. Come on, a mummy in my bedroom!" Edward scoffed.

"I am definitely looking forward to going through the Cullen Cave." I said.

"I suggest you wear clothes you don't care about, trust me!" Alice said.

"I'll listen to that. Any other mummies I should know about?" I asked.

"Not that I can think of. Of course, knowing Jasper and Emmett, you can never be too sure." Esme said.

"Boys?" Carlisle asked.

"You'll just have to find out!" Emmett replied.

"I'm officially scared." I stated.

"You should be! It's only our job." Jasper told me, pulling me into a hug and then pushing me off the couch.

"HEY NO FAIR!" I shouted before smacking him and then throwing him back off.

"Hey, if we are going to start fighting, let's first get Esme and Carlisle out of the room!" Emmett said.

"No, I'm not fighting. That was retaliation. Alice, what's the plan for today?" I asked, since it was now 4 AM.

"How about we drive to Portland. There's lots of nice shopping in downtown by the riverfront and a bunch of other stuff to do." Alice replied.

"Sounds good! Guys, you coming?" I asked.

"Of course." Edward and Jasper said.

"We can't, Emmett and I have to start packing and then we have some unfinished business…" Rosalie trailed off.

"EMMETT, THINK G-RATED THOUGHTS!" Edward yelled.

"Yeah, sure…stop complaining, virgin boy. Once you and Bella get down and dirty, you can't tell me to shut up anymore." Emmett replied.

"I can, and I will if you are thinking about my sister that way!" Edward said.

"What if I think about Bella that way?" Emmett asked, smiling evilly.

"I'll kill you, again!" Edward growled.

"Same, you're my husband!" Rosalie reminded him.

"I'm no one's property!" Emmett shouted.

"You are when we are upstairs." Rosalie said, grinning.

"Shackle me up!" Emmett said as he and Rosalie got up and ran upstairs.

"I suggest we leave, um now!" Alice said.

"But the drive to Portland is about 5 hours without vampire driving!" I said.

"Well, let's at least leave. I can't handle their emotions." Jasper said.

"Try listening to their thoughts. EMMETT THINK THE 'ABC'S!" Edward shouted then we heard Emmett's laughter booming from the upstairs.

"I can almost feel the ground vibrating. Let's go!" I said, grabbing my chocolate brown wool jacket and heading out to Edward's Volvo.

"To Portland we go!" Alice said as we got into her car and sped off towards our destination.


	18. Gemma

Chapter 18: Gemma

Jasper drove with Alice in the front seat with him and I sat in the back next to Edward. We made it to the I-5 (AN, Interstate 5) in no time and since it wasn't raining, Jasper opened up the sunroof in the Volvo and let the wind lightly whip through the car. Alice put a mix CD in and pressed play, letting the music flow around the car. The first song was Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, then The First Time by Lifehouse. We all sang along as we sped down the freeway towards Portland.

"Jasper, turn right here!" Edward said as we neared a sign that said "Exit 85 (AN, I don't know Portland's exit…sorry. I used to live there, but my family and I moved before I got my permit. So I only know locations, not directions and stuff. I miss Portland…) Portland".

"I know what I'm doing, Edward." Jasper replied as he hit his right blinker and proceeded to turn right.

"Liar. I heard your thoughts. You were thinking, 'Crap, where do I turn…CRAP!'" Edward told him.

"Well, I would have figured it out eventually, Edward know-it-all pants." Jasper replied, turning to glare at Edward.

"Since you don't know what to do now, take a right onto the Morrison Bridge. It will lead us to downtown. And don't protest, I can hear your thoughts still, and that block isn't working. Stop cursing through your mind, Jasper. And no I can't just shut up. I'm so very sorry." Edward told Jasper as Alice and I burst out laughing.

"Edward, as of now, I love your mind-reading ability!" Alice told Edward.

"Yeah, well I hate it!" Jasper said.

"Too bad!" I said as Jasper sped across the bridge towards Downtown Portland.

I had never been to Downtown before. It was so pretty, the trees had lights strung along the branches and everything was so open. We were passing Pioneer Place as Jasper searched to find a parking garage. Alice squealed with delight when we passed the giant mall.

"Bella, I'm taking you to Abercrombie! Oh and that store too, with the formal dresses! Oh, I'm so excited! And when we are done, I put swimsuits in the back so we can go jump through that fountain out by the river!" Alice said, pointing towards an area with water squirting from the ground and children running happily through the water. We had finally found a parking garage by that time and we were heading towards the direction that Alice was leading us.

"Alice, how many cups of coffee did you have this morning?" Edward asked.

"None, I drank blood from a deer though!" Alice replied.

"That deer must have had high blood sugar. This sugar high is even worse than how you act on a daily basis." Edward told her (AN, I'm diabetic, so I'm not making fun of high blood sugars. One of the girls I have gymnastics with is diabetic too, and one day her blood sugar was _really_ high, like 450 high, and she was so hyper! Our coach was so amused and slightly scared of her hyperness.).

"Alice, don't listen to him. Your happiness is cute." I told her, smacking Edward.

"Well, her thoughts are giving me a headache." Edward replied.

"Edward, not helping!" I told him.

"No, I agree. I can feel the energy rolling off of her in waves," Jasper said. "It's confusing my emotions. WHO THE FRICK IS FEELING SO MUCH LUST IT HURTS?" Jasper exclaimed.

"Those high-schoolers over there. The tall black-haired girl wants to do inappropriate things to me. The short one with curly blond hair wants to 'make love to Jasper until the end of the world'. The boy with the buzz cut is undressing Alice in his mind. And my least favorite, the other boy with the black hair and red streaks wants to steal Bella from me and then screw her in front of me. Ugh. You're lucky you can't hear their thoughts." Edward said, shuddering as he spoke.

"Feeling their emotions is bad enough!" Jasper replied as they walked over to us. Edward growled and pulled me closer to him and Jasper put his arms protectively around Alice.

"Hey there, we noticed you all walking around and we wanted to see if you would like to come hang out with us." They boy with the black hair and red streaks said as he eyed me.

"No thank you, we are only here for a day and we really must get going if we want to get home before curfew." Alice told him.

"Aw, come on, don't be that way." The boy replied, grabbing my arm.

"_Don't touch me_." I growled.

"Hey, you'll warm up to me eventually. It might just take a hotel room to do so. The name's Jet." The boy told me.

"Get away from her!" Jasper shouted as his eyes began to turn black.

"Is she you're girlfriend?" The girl with the curly blond hair asked with an obnoxious New York accent.

"No, she's my sister and my friend. _Let her go._" Jasper growled.

"Come on, honey, don't be that way! My name's Shirley, trust me, you'll be screaming it by tonight." The girl said, hooking her fingers around Jasper's arm.

"HEY, THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND!" Alice shouted.

"Hey, pipe down, shorty. He can have whatever girl he wants. And trust me, he wants all women." Shirley replied.

"_Wait till he sucks you dry when you get too close to him_." Alice whispered too fast for human ears, but all of us vampires snickered and Jasper looked ashamed at the fact that he can't keep track of his need.

"_Jasper, don't worry. None of us resent you for that._" I whispered to him.

"_Thanks. And if that guy tries to touch you, I swear I'll kick his butt._" Jasper told me.

"_I agree. If I have to watch him do unsavory things to my fiancée in his mind one more time, I'm going to kill him_." Edward added in a whisper.

"Aw, come with me, little one. My name is Robert, but call me Troy." Troy told Alice.

"Why 'Troy'?" I asked.

"Trojan condoms. I never go anywhere without one." Troy responded, smiling.

"Too much info." I said.

"Yeah, I like boys with red hair. It's very sexy. By the way, you can call me Cami." The black hair one told Edward.

"_Hey, Bella, you should make that fire hydrant explode on these people. It will give us enough time to make our escape._" Edward whispered into my hair.

"_Gladly_." I replied, smiling as I quickly flicked my wrist and the red fire hydrant 10 feet away expelled water into the air and then I quickly moved the geyser to face our human annoyances. The girls screamed as the water came in contact with their overly made-up faces and gross leather clothing. The guys flipped out as the girls continued screaming, granting us sufficient time to run away at vampire speed. No one was even paying enough attention to notice us disappear, although, reappearing would be an issue.

We ran behind a small area where no one would see us mysteriously appear out of thin air as we slowed to a walk.

"I can't believe we almost got raped by a bunch of lunatic teens!" Jasper said.

"I know…that was stupid. But I don't think we've seen the last of them." Edward said.

"Come on, let's go. That was just a minor setback!" Alice said as she walked out into the main drag.

"I swear, nothing can stop Alice from shopping!" I exclaimed as I bumped into a small girl with dark brown wavy hair and bright blue eyes, causing her to fall to the ground from the impact.

"Oof!" She said as she hit the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention! Please forgive me. I've had such an odd day and now I'm rambling. I'll be quiet now…" I said as I took her hand and helped her up.

"It's okay, I ramble a lot too. My name's Gemma Milan. Are you all from here?" Gemma asked.

"My name's Bella, and next to me are my fiancée, Edward, and his brother, Jasper, and sister, Alice. We live up in Forks, Washington. We are visiting for the day. Do you live here?" I asked.

"Yes, I live in the West Hills, it's a bit up that way." She replied, pointing up towards a hilly area.

"Oh, cool. Do you want to go shopping with us?" Alice asked.

"_Alice…?_" Jasper whispered, worried that he could possibly hurt Gemma.

"_You won't, I checked._" Alice replied.

"Yeah, we'd love for you to come. You'd be able to show us around here." I told her.

"Sure, I even know this great sushi place down the street. It's about lunch time, do you want to go?" Gemma asked.

"Um, actually, we just grabbed Subway on our way here.

"Oh, that's cool. Let me just stop by this gyro place along the way, they make some of the best gyros in Portland." Gemma told us as she turned towards the Nordstrom where there was a huge area with steps lowering into what looked like a great place for a concert or a Saturday market or something (AN, there is a square like this by Nordstrom, by the Max stop and I think they usually put the giant Christmas tree down there every winter. And if memory serves me right, then there should be a gyro place by there.).

We waited as Gemma got a chicken gyro and then came back to us with a smile.

"Thank you so much for inviting me. Want a bite?" She asked, offering a bit of her gyro.

"No thank you." We all said politely, because none of us were in the mood for coughing up food later.

"Okay. Where did you want to go to first?" Gemma asked.

"Well, I was thinking Abercrombie and Fitch and then that nice dress store a few blocks from here. We could split up for a bit, I suppose, let the guys do what they want, and then meet up and run through the fountain." Alice said.

"Oh, you mean Bella Ragazza." Gemma replied.

"Yeah." Alice said.

"Oh my gosh, I love that place! My boyfriend has dragged me there before. I don't mean to sound crazy, but he's like you all." Gemma said.

"What do you mean? He's a…a…" I replied, unable to frame the words that defined us for what we were.

"A vampire, yes. He doesn't drink from Animals though, and you all have the same color of eyes as he has. The same pale skin." Gemma replied.

"But you're human…" Jasper said.

"I know, but he promised to change me when we left for college." Gemma replied.

"How old are you?" Alice asked.

"I just turned 18, but I look a bit young for my age. Tristan was 19 when he was changed." Gemma explained to us.

"When was he born?" I asked.

"He believes he was born in the winter of 1506, around the start of the Renaissance. He was changed in the spring of 1526 by a wandering vampire who saw Tristan get stabbed by a drunken man. He had never met Tristan, but when he went up to Tristan to see if he was okay, he must have seen something in his face to make him want to keep Tristan alive. Cedric and his wife, Felicity took Tristan in as their son and they brought his sister, Emmeline to the family about a hundred years later." Gemma explained to us.

"He must have very good self-control." I observed.

"Yes, both Cedric and Tristan have amazing control. Emmeline and Felicity have very good control as well, after having been alive for a thousand years. Felicity can control the weather, Emmeline can change appearances, Cedric can appear human, with eye color, body heat, and aversion to the smell of human blood but he can also send thoughts with his mind, and Tristan has the power to heal." Gemma said.

"Cool! I can see the future, Jasper can read emotions and change them, Edward can read minds, and Bella can control the four elements." Alice told Gemma.

"That's cool. So are you guys graduating too?" Gemma asked.

"Yeah, we are going to the University of Edinburgh." I told her.

"Seriously? So are Tristan, Emmeline, and I as well! It will be so cool to be there with you all." Gemma told us.

"Wow, that school is going to have nine vampires in attendance!" Jasper exclaimed.

"Nine?" Gemma asked.

"Yeah, we forgot to tell you. This isn't our entire family…see, there're also 4 other vampires in our family, not including Bella's parents." Alice explained.

"So two parents and two more kids?" Gemma asked.

"Yeah, Emmett and Rosalie." Edward said.

"How old are you all?" Gemma asked.

"I'm the youngest, I was born when you were. I was changed before Hurricane Katrina hit, I used to live in New Orleans. Carlisle, our father figure is the oldest, he was born in the 1600's. Jasper is second oldest; he was born sometime before the Civil War. Then Edward and Alice were born in 1901. Emmett and Rosalie were born in 1915. And finally Esme, our mother figure in 1921." I explained.

"Wow, but Bella, you are only about a year old! How do you have such good control?" Gemma asked.

"I'm immune to the scent of blood." I explained.

"Oh, cool! Well, we should get going. My boyfriend will want to meet you all, he's hunting right now, but he should be back by tonight. We'll want to get going though. Abercrombie, first, right?" Gemma asked.

"Yeah. Come on, guys." Alice said as Gemma led the way to Abercrombie.


	19. Tristan

Chapter 19: Tristan

"Come on, this way. This Abercrombie is the biggest one in the northwest (AN, they told me that last time I was in Portland, which was in December of 2006). Plus, you girls will love the hot guys. Ugh, I'm spazzing out right now!" Gemma told us.

"Hey!" Jasper and Edward exclaimed in unison.

"Don't worry, we won't leave you for some way hotter human men…well, we can't promise that. We'll try our best!" Alice replied, kissing Jasper's cheek.

"Yeah, no matter how amazingly gorgeous they are. Oh well…" I told Edward, smiling angelically.

"Yeah, thanks," Edward grumbled.

"You know I love you," I replied, turning him towards me.

"Yeah, otherwise you wouldn't have agreed to marry me," Edward replied looking into my eyes.

"And I will always love you, for eternity," I said, moving closer to him.

"For eternity," He replied, kissing me.

"Guys…we are still here," Jasper said.

"Are they always like this?" Gemma asked.

"No. It must be the fact that they are engaged. But Rosalie and Emmett are the worst. They make Edward go nuts almost every night with their 'sexual urges'," Alice explained.

"I bet. What do they look like?" Gemma asked.

"Well, Emmett has curly dark brown hair and he's very muscular. He's also slightly spazztic and loves to mess around. He's very smart though. And Rosalie is blond and statuesque. She is absolutely stunning, but she is slightly tenacious. If you get her in the right mood she is very kind-hearted," Alice explained.

"Will I get to meet them anytime soon?" Gemma asked.

"You and your boyfriend should come to Forks with his coven (AN, I noticed a typo in my last chapter. I meant Gemma's boyfriend _does_ drink from animals. I can't believe I didn't catch that!)," Edward said.

"That sounds good. Come on, we're here," Gemma replied as she led us into the giant Abercrombie in downtown Portland.

"Hi there. How are you all today?" One of the girls in the front asked, eying Edward and Jasper.

"Fine," Alice, Gemma, and I replied, flashing them dazzling smiles. Edward and Jasper smiled sheepishly.

"Why, hello there. My name is Sam. How may I help you?" A _very_ hot-looking Abercrombie boy asked Alice, Gemma, and me.

"They are doing perfectly fine. Come on, Bells," Edward replied, glaring at the boy.

"What was that about?" I asked once we were out of earshot.

"You didn't hear his thoughts," Edward told me.

"What was he thinking?" I asked.

"He was thinking things along the lines of 'who is that? Give me her phone number; I want a piece of that. Sure she is pale, but maybe once we spend a weekend in my parent's beach house in Malibu she won't be so pale. Besides, those beaches are great for late-night lovemaking. She'll be loving every second of it!' and other terrible thoughts! You are better than he is. Far, far better, Bella. He doesn't deserve someone like you," Edward told me.

"Thanks. Come on, I _know_ you are dying to make me buy clothes," I told him.

"I think you are getting me confused with Alice," Edward replied.

"Like you wouldn't mind being in the dressing room while I'm changing," I said.

"Very true. But Alice's joy is different from mine. My joy is the joy of being with my beautiful fiancée in a private dressing room. Alice's joy is that of wanting to make you look pretty for me and causing the other guys who see you to become jealous," Edward explained.

"Why, Mr. Cullen!" I exclaimed.

"I've seen you in a swimsuit, it's the same thing. Bella, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever set my eyes upon. You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I don't deserve you," Edward replied.

"You're amazing."

"Why thank you, come on, I see a shirt over there that is perfect for you," Edward told me.

"Doesn't the fact that you are my fiancée and you are picking out my clothes sound a bit odd to you? I know it sounds odd to me," I told him, picking up and examining the shirt he showed me. It was actually really pretty. It was a white linen spaghetti-strap tank top that had eyelet lace bordering the top and bottom. It was a bit low cut, but I saw a light blue spaghetti-strap tank top that I could wear under it. I picked them both up, and showed them to Edward.

"I think it will look beautiful," Edward told me.

"Here Bella, I found you jeans, sweaters, tank tops, this jacket, skirts, and some t-shirts. Try them on, I just had a vision, and I need to get you a dress. We should probably go to Nordstrom or Meyer and Frank (AN, Macy's changed the name of Meyer and Frank to Macy's, but I miss the old Meyer and Frank, so I'm keeping it as Meyer and Frank. Useless author's note is over now) and find you one later. Gemma, you should also call Tristan and see if he can meet us tonight. Emmeline is invited too. I just had a vision, and I think you'll want to come with," Alice explained.

"Um, okay, sure. Let me call him," Gemma replied, pulling out her white LG Chocolate phone and calling Tristan. "Hey, Tristan, it's Gem. I met some other vegetarians, the Cullens. They invited you and Em to come with us to something Alice saw in a vision. Yes, she's psychic. Okay? Sure. Hey, can he talk to someone?" Gemma asked.

"I'll talk to him," I told her, taking the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, my name is Tristan Giovanni, Gemma's boyfriend. Who's this?" He asked.

"Hi Tristan, my name is Bella Swan, what questions do you have?" I replied.

"Well, I was wondering what Alice wanted to invite me and Em to."

"We can never know with Alice unless she tells us. Don't worry, she won't kill us. Once you meet her, you'll know. She's much too happy to be a killer. She probably just saw some random thing that she thinks we'll all love."

"Should we come?" He asked.

"I trust Alice with my life. I think you'll like whatever she saw," I replied.

"Okay, tell Gem I love her and I'll come. I have to go though, I need to tell Em. But, before I go, can you ask Alice what I have to wear?" He asked.

"Nice pants, like khakis or black pants, and a nice shirt. He can wear nice tennis shoes or sandals, though. Emmeline can wear a sundress. She can come meet us downtown if she wants, though. Bella, Gemma, and I were going to run to Nordstrom and Meyer and Frank to look for dresses," Alice told Tristan after having taken the phone from me.

"Okay, meet us down on 5th and Alder at 6:30, no problem, bye," Alice replied.

"Can I pick out my clothes now?" I asked.

"Let me check," Alice replied, blanking for a minute. What a cheater, she's picking out my clothes for me.

"All but that yellow shirt. Come one, I'm buying. We need to get to Bella Ragazza so we can pick out a dress for you, Bella, and then we can search for sun dresses," Alice told me.

"But I don't want you to pay! I have money…"

"Bella, we have almost 400 years of money. Let Alice pay for it. Besides, once you become a Cullen, you'll have money too," Edward told me.

"Fine. But you're only giving me one credit card, and it won't be one of those special black or platinum cards," I replied.

"No way, no Cullen can have fewer than 10 credit cards! And I love my black and platinum cards," Alice told me.

"How about 5. Bella's an unusual Cullen. But you are going to have black and platinum," Edward said.

"Fine, deal," Alice and I both replied.

"Sorry, Alice," Edward told her.

"Fine, but Bella, I need to get you a new dress. I'm thinking…something burgundy. Maybe silk…or chiffon," Alice mused.

"Easy there, Alice. Not too much or you'll give her a brain aneurism," Jasper told her.

"Fine, come on. Gemma, do you have everything?" Alice asked.

"Um, yeah. Tristan told me to use his credit card. I just got this shirt and these shorts," Gemma replied, holding up her clothes.

"See, Bella, this is how you should be. Gemma uses her boyfriend's credit cards, yet you refuse to let us spend money on you!" Alice told me.

"Deal with it, Alice. Come one, let's get this torturing done with," I replied, taking Edwards hand and leaving Abercrombie and heading towards Bella Ragazza.

We stopped over at the Starbucks in the glass building over by the mall on the way over to Bella Ragazza so Gemma could pick up something to eat. She got a green tea blended crème and a fruit bowl since she wouldn't have dinner until a few hours later. Alice was so jumpy as she walked us over to Bella Ragazza (AN, I'm making up this boutique, since I never shopped in boutiques in Portland. So, please don't go looking for this store, because I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist.).

"Oh my gosh, look at that dress in the window! It is so pretty. I think I might try it on. Oh, Bella, look at that one! It's so pretty in that sea foam green. I also like that burgundy one too. Oh, the choices!" Alice mused as we walked into the store causing the bells to jingle.

"Yes…?" The woman standing in the storefront said as she looked at Gemma and me with disapproval, even though Gemma is probably one of the prettiest humans I have ever seen.

"Hi, I'm just looking for some dresses for my friends and me," Alice told her, causing the woman's jaw to drop when she saw Alice in all of her stunning beauty.

"Oh, of course," the woman stuttered.

"Hey Alice, I think Edward and I should try on a few dresses just to keep us occupied while you, Gemma, and Bella get absorbed in finding the perfect dress. You know, will still have to get to another store to get those clothes you need for that surprise of yours," Jasper reminded Alice.

"Why, hello there!" The woman fluttered. "My name is Charlotte, how may I assist you? Would you maybe like some water or a soda?"

"Um, yeah, hi. I'm Edward, and this is Jasper. And this is Jasper's girlfriend, Alice, and my fiancée, Bella, and our friend Gemma," Edward told Charlotte, who seemed to tone down her flirting when she found out that both of the _very_ attractive vampires were taken by two other vampires. Course, she didn't need to know that we were vampires.

"Oh, um, well, water, soda, iced tea, anyone?" She asked again with less enthusiasm.

"A Root Beer would be great, thank you," Gemma told Charlotte.

"Okay, anything for you four?" Charlotte asked.

"_Maybe some Mountain Lion blood with a hint of Grizzly_," Edward whispered so only we vampires could hear. We broke into a fit of silent giggles while Gemma looked at us questionably. I mouthed an "I'll tell you later" to her and Jasper just told Charlotte that we were fine.

"Okay, well, just call if you need me," Charlotte told us as she walked away, swaying her hips with each step she took.

"Okay then…well, I like this dress, and this one, and this one, and this would look great on you, Gemma, and I like this one," Alice said as she pulled numerous dresses from their racks.

She pulled out about 10 more before finally deciding that we had enough dresses and then she shoved me into a dressing room and told me to come out with the ones I liked. She also added that I not look at the price tags or else she'll buy them all just to torture me.

I decided to concentrate on the task ahead, which involved trying on many formal gowns. There were so many. There were navy blue ones, burgundy red ones, caramel brown ones, pale yellow ones, pale pink ones, lavendar ones, a silver one, a turquise one, a deep blue one, a black one, and a sea foam green one. I decided I would start at the top and try on my favorite one of each color and then narrow it down from there.

I started out with a navy blue dress made of very soft silk. It had small silver beads embroidered around the top and then scattered throughout the dress resembling the stars. It had a single strap that was navy blue but covered in beads so it shown brightly in the light and it draped around my shoulders gracefully. It looked absolutely magnificent. I put it in the pile labeled 'things to show Alice' and sifted through more of the dresses.

The next one I liked was a simple burgundy red one that was made of velvet and opened in the front to reveal a silvery-white chiffon underskirt. It was an off-the-shoulder dress that I knew Alice would love. I put it in the pile next to the navy blue one.

After that dress I pulled out the black one. It was also silk and had long sleeves with light silvery-blue thread embroidery on the sleeves in shapes of small roses that lined the square neckline and the bottom. It contrasted very well with my pale skin.

The sea foam green dress was next. It was chiffon with a lighter bottom layer made from silk. It was a plain tank top dress with a single silk ribbon matching the bottom layer that wound around my waist.

The last dress I pulled was the turqoise dress, but it looked better on the hanger than it did on me. It was much too low cut, and I didn't want to wear that low cut of a dress. (AN, these dresses are all from my imagination, so if I get the time, I'll look online for maybe some look-alikes, but if I can't, don't hate me.)

"Are you almost done? Gemma already picked out and bought two. Come one…I want to get to the next store!" Alice whined.

"I picked out 4 dresses. I need your help narrowing them down," I told her.

"I was _studying_ while you were trying them on," she hinted, since Charlotte was obviously eavesdropping. "I liked all of the ones you tried on. But I agree on not picking the green one, it made you look cheap. I think we'll get all four. Come on, I picked out two."

"I agree, I bet those dresses looked beautiful on you," Edward told me, kissing my cheek.

So we rung them up and Charlotte looked a bit peeved as Alice pulled out her black credit card. I smirked and tipped her soda off the counter onto the ground after Alice had paid and we were leaving. I had to sneak a look at her face as we left the store. That look of shock and anger was priceless. I barely had enough time to think before Alice dragged us off to Nordstrom to search for clothes for her surprise.

We entered the massive brown stone building and were immediately greeted by more happy salesgirls. Only these salesgirls were nicer, and according to Edward, they weren't trying to steal our boyfriends from us. Apparently, most of them were happily taken. Gemma knew one of the girls who worked there, evidently they went to Wilson High School together. Christa managed to get us all amazingly beautiful dresses. Gemma picked out a nice black and white one that had sleeves that cut above the elbow and had a circular pattern. Mine was a white halter dress that had orange and red branches on it. Alice's was a simple tank dress with a black top that cut to turqoise for the rest of the dress. (AN, links in profile)

It was relatively painless, surprisingly. Partially because Christa actually helped us pick out our dresses, instead of Alice throwing millions of ideas at us. It was good for me, because Alice stayed happy nonetheless.

After we finished Gemma called up Tristan and asked if we could go over to their house to meet everyone and then we could change and head out for Alice's amazing idea. He said it was okay and that Felicity, Em, and Cedric would love to meet us.

We all piled back into the car and Gemma directed us to Tristan's house, where she was living now too.

The ride wasn't too bad, either. It was about a 5 minute drive, because Tristan and his family lived up in the West Hills, a higher class part of Portland up in the hills that overlooked downtown. His house was _beautiful_ too. It was grey stone and had a tall roof with lots of windows. Gemma typed the code into the garage door opener and led us into the garage, which had a black Jaguar XKR—Cedric's car, according to Gemma, a Ruby Red 911 Porsche Carrera 4S—Emmeline's car, a navy blue Volvo C70—Gemma's car, and she said that Tristan wanted to buy her an Aston Martin DB9, but she liked the Volvo more, and a Mercedes S63 AMG—Felicity's car.

I felt another vehicle approaching because of the vibrations on the ground. I turned around to see another car entering the garage. It was obviously Tristan. He was in a Titanium Silver BMW 650i coupe. He pulled in and got out of the car and pulled Gemma into his arms. He was a bit darker for a vampire, and he had honey brown straight hair that flopped into his eyes. He seemed perfect for Gemma. He looked over and saw us and smiled.

"You must be the Cullens, it's nice to meet you," Tristan said.

"Hi, I'm Edward, and this is my fiancée, Bella," Edward told him, shaking his hand.

"I'm Alice, and this is my husband, Jasper," Alice added.

"Nice to meet you all. Come on, let's go inside, I'm sure everyone else wants to meet you," he told us as he opened the door and led Gemma inside, never letting go of her hand once.


	20. The Past

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to House, M.D. or Twilight. I only own Emmeline, Gemma, and Tristan. I don't even own Felicity and Cedric, because I borrowed them from House, M.D. and changed their names without realizing that I wanted to use their characters from House. Whoops. Oh, well…please read and reviews are welcome.

Chapter 20: The Past

We entered the house behind Tristan and Gemma to come to a large open kitchen. There were all the latest appliances, like in the Cullen house and my house, which were only for resale purposes, even though they were rarely used. The kitchen was absolutely beautiful. The floor was white marble that seemed to glitter like vampire skin. The walls were all a pale neutral light brown. The cabinets were all dark wood with light blue glass in them and the countertops were all dark granite with blue sparks in it. The back splash against the wall behind the stove had the granite on the wall with large blue glass tiles that matched the blue in the granite. It was absolutely beautiful. Behind the kitchen was a bar with three blue lights hanging over it and then behind that was a large sitting area with the entire back wall made of glass, like in the Cullen's house.

There were 2 couches and two sets of chairs, all set into two groups. Sitting on the large dark brown L-shaped couch must have been Cedric and Felicity and Emmeline was sitting on the crème-colored chair with her legs pulled into her chest.

They were all amazingly beautiful. Emmeline had dark reddish-brown hair with high cheekbones and full lips. Her topaz eyes looking amazing next to her hair, which was cut below her shoulders and her bangs brushed into her eyes.

Cedric had boyish blond straight hair that was parted to the side and looked like he ran his fingers through it a lot like people do when they are stressed. He had shocking pale green eyes and his skin was a bit less pale than the rest of ours. Both he and Felicity were in scrubs, meaning that they worked in a hospital too, OHSU, according to Gemma.

Felicity was absolutely beautiful and could give Rosalie a run for her money. She had dark brown wavy hair and stormy bluish-gray eyes that must have gone with her power. She looked very kind.

"Felicity, Cedric, Emmeline, these are the Cullens: Edward, Jasper, Alice, and Bella," Tristan said, introducing us.

"Edward and Bella are engaged to me married, and Jasper and Alice _are_ married," Gemma added.

"It's very nice to you have all in our home," Felicity told us. Her voice was very peaceful and kind.

"Thank you," I told her, smiling.

"So where do you all live?" Cedric asked.

"Forks, Washington, but we will be moving to Scotland shortly for college, like Gemma and Tristan," Edward explained.

"Where are you all from before that?" Emmeline asked.

"Well, we lived with a coven in Denali, Alaska before we moved to Forks. And Bella lived in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina," Alice explained.

"New Orleans, how did you manage that?" Cedric asked, amazed.

"Well, I can control the four elements, so once in a while if the sun got too powerful and I couldn't stay in the shadows I would just pull in more cloud cover. It was starting to get a bit difficult to maintain secrecy, though, so my family and I were bound to have to move eventually," I replied.

"Wow. You must have been changed not too long ago," Felicity said.

"About a year ago, now." Why did I sound sad? Edward must have noticed, because he put his hand on my back and kissed my cheek.

"How do you have such good control?" Cedric asked, amazed.

"I'm not affected by the scent of human blood. When I was human, human blood repulsed me. So now, I guess I can't smell it. That's why my eyes have always been this color. My body must have always been attuned to animal blood."

"Wow," he replied.

"She amazes us all. I have the ability to read minds, but I can't read hers," Edward explained.

"Let's see if I can reach her mind," Cedric said, before turning his focus on me. It was silent for a few seconds until he looked away.

"Anything?" Edward asked.

"Nothing. It was like trying to penetrate a brick wall." He rubbed his head like it hurt.

"You must have good control, you work in a hospital," Jasper told them.

"We try. Tristan wants to be a doctor, but he knows he wouldn't be able to use his powers. It would draw too much attention to us. He's only allowed to use them in special cases," Felicity added.

"And I hate it. I could stop so many more deaths if I were allowed to use my powers. But the Volturi have already explained to me what will happen if I draw attention to myself, causing people to find out about us. They are already unhappy about Gemma, but we have promised to change her once we leave for college, much to my dislike," Tristan said.

"Why don't you want to change her?" Alice asked.

"He's afraid it will change her and make her soulless, like he believes he is. He doesn't want this life for her, he believes she has so much going for her and there is no reason why she should love him so much," Edward stated, having read Tristan's mind.

"I know how you feel. If Bella were human, I would have wanted her to stay that way. If I could have given her immortality without having her changed into a vampire, I would have," Edward replied.

"You changed her?" Emmeline asked.

"No, a man, Jonathon, who knew me in New Orleans, wanted me for his mate so he changed me. He kidnapped me a few months ago and Edward and his family killed him because there was no other way," I explained.

"That's terrible." Felicity turned her stormy eyes on me with sadness in them. I felt myself walking to her and I put my hand on her shoulder.

"No, it's fine. If I hadn't been changed, I wouldn't have had the chance to be with Edward. Even with Hurricane Katrina moving us, I wouldn't have been able to be with Edward. My blood, according to Jonathon, was like a siren's call. It was very powerful, and I don't think even Edward could have abstained from it, and he has very good control. After I was changed, I could only very lightly smell it on my bloodstained clothes, and it was very fragrant. Almost like freesia," I added.

Felicity smiled at me. I knew I liked her already. She seemed very kind and peaceful. I knew that she, Cedric, and Carlisle would get along perfectly.

"If you don't mind my asking, where are you all from? Cedric has an accent I can't seem to place," Edward said.

"I lived in Australia in the 1200's until I was changed and then I swam to Europe. I lived in Russia for about 20 years before I moved to Switzerland and lived up in the Swiss Alps for nearly 50 years, perfecting my control, before I left for France.

"I lived in France for 20 years before I moved to Italy. I spent a little over 200 years with the Volturi, which is how I met Felicity. She had been captured as food but I saw her and saved her before someone could kill her. I changed her so she would be safe and Aro wouldn't punish me for taking her. It was love at first sight, I suppose.

"Felicity and I decided it was time to leave, so we left for England to travel around there, and that was how we found Tristan. After we changed Tristan, we moved to China and traveled within there for a good number of years.

"We were preparing to leave when Tristan met a human girl, Emmeline, who had been captured from her home and was being sold into slavery. He wanted to bring her into safety, but knew it would be too hard with her being human.

"One night he decided it was time to tell Emmeline what he was. He wanted to give her the choice to come with us if she wanted to. She didn't have to be changed and she could avoid slavery.

"Emmeline agreed to come but she wanted to be changed into a vampire. She and Tristan felt like brother and sister, not like mates, and Emmeline said she'd rather spend an eternity with a friend than a mortal life afraid that she could be captured and vulnerable. Tristan was vehemently against changing her but she finally convinced him to change her.

"Tristan was going to take Emmeline with him early the next morning and then we would leave and change Emmeline once we were far enough away from other humans. So when Tristan got to the camp that was holding Emmeline, he saw her being beaten and raped by numerous men. They had seen Tristan coming in and out of camp, and they thought it was unfair that he was getting from her what she wouldn't give to them. Tristan slaughtered them—not something he has been proud of, but he couldn't get them to stop—and had to bite Emmeline there before she died. Later we found out she almost been impregnated, Tristan changed her before the sperm could meet her egg.

"After that we went deep into the forests of England and stayed there for nearly 100 years, perfecting Emmeline's control before we left for the America's and we found a group of Native Americans in New York, the Iroquois, who knew what we were and accepted us with open arms.

"They said if we protected them from danger, then they would keep our secret. They understood when the white men came that there was not much we could do about that, so they continued to protect us and we lived with them for many years.

"I still keep in touch with some of the relatives of the Iroquois leaders who took care of us. They never blamed us for anything that happened and we helped them with their fir collection because the animals that they killed we used to drink from. They understood that not all vampires are like us, though, so once in a while they need our help getting rid of a vampire problem. The Volturi don't know, though. They would think it was ridiculous and order me to change them or kill them, which I cannot do.

"Around that time I ran into Carlisle in Chicago before we left for Canada, so he should remember me. We moved around Canada for a while before we finally came here. Portland seemed very welcoming with having both kind people and also being very sunless. We enrolled Tristan and Emmeline in high school, over at Wilson, where he met Gemma, and they fell in love. Tristan went to school in Canada and college one other time, but he figured he'd wait a while before he went to college again. Emmeline tended to go to college more, as a way of passing time. Felicity and I can live here a little bit longer before we have to move again, and we are talking about going up to live in the Highland area north of Edinburgh. There are lots of animals and we will be close to Gemma during this time of getting used to being around human blood and learning control. She is already like a daughter to us, so it is in my nature to care for her," Cedric explained.

"Wow, that is a very long story," Jasper said.

"Yes, well, I have been on this planet a very long time. I know for a fact that Carlisle's story is long, as well," Cedric replied. Suddenly a loud beeping filled the room. It was soon joined by another loud beep.

"Ugh, House! (AN, sorry, I decided that I wanted to use House's characters, probably cause I love that show. Hehe) Ced, House needs us. He says that Tenebaum is giving him issues and he needs us there. One day I'm going to kill him without even thinking. He might be less of an ass if he knew we were vampires," Felicity said, shoving her cell phone back into her pocket after having read her text message.

"Who?" Alice asked.

"Dr. Gregory House, our boss, and the spawn of Satan at times. That man needs to calm down sometimes," Cedric explained.

"Anything simple that I can take care of?" Tristan asked, looking hopeful.

"Not unless you want to out-House him and probably get a cane to the crotch for solving his case, I think you should stay here," Cedric replied.

"Could you just see his face if some 19-year-old kid like Tristan came in and healed some dying patient? House would have a brain aneurism and go into a coma," Felicity said.

"Maybe we should do that the day we quit," Cedric mused.

"Yeah, then you can tell him about the existence of vampires and then send him to the Volturi with a card to Aro saying: Hey, look, an annoying guy who thinks he knows everything! Have fun, xoxo the Giovannis. That would go over real well," Emmeline added.

"Haha, shut up," Felicity said.

"Hey, just because I'm your daughter and also about 500 years younger, doesn't mean you can tell me to shut up…okay never mind, I've got nothing," Emmeline replied.

"Yeah, you'd better stop there," Cedric replied.

"Hey, I could make you an old man, I'd be nice if I were you," Emmeline told him, glaring at him.

"I'd like to see you try," Tristan replied.

"Shut up, Trista. Watch me turn dad into an old man." Emmeline turned her gaze to Cedric and we watched in amazement as Cedric's skin softened and became wrinkled and his hair turned white.

"Hey, look, an old man!" Tristan exclaimed.

"I think we should keep him that way," Felicity mused.

"Hey!" Cedric exclaimed.

"I agree. Bye dad!" Emmeline ran up the stairs, laughing as she went.

"Em, fix this! How do I explain this to House?" Cedric asked.

"Tell him the truth. You're an 800-year-old vampire, whose daughter got pissed at him, and turned him into an old man. He aught to be able to find the humor in the situation." Felicity and Tristan snickered at Emmeline's reply.

"Gemma, I love your family," I told her.

"I know. They are pretty amazing," she replied.

"Em, changing me back would be nice," Cedric said right before two more loud beeps echoed through the room.

"Yeah, he's getting impatient. Oh, look, I just got one from Foreman, he said House is tempted to come over here and whack us over the head with his cane. I would love to see his cane break when he tries to hit us over the head with it. Emmeline, I think you've tortured poor Cedric enough," Felicity said after having read her newest text message from another doctor.

"Yes, please? Make me young again," Cedric begged.

"Fine, fine. Calm down." She once again focused on Cedric and we watched in amazement, as he got younger and younger, and returned to his normal appearance.

"Thank you. Come on Fee, let's go. We can't be too late unless we want house to murder us," Cedric said as he pulled Felicity's hand and they ran out of the house at vampire speed.

"It was nice meeting you!" Felicity called.

"Yeah, tell Carlisle I said hi!" Cedric added.

"Bye guys!" Gemma yelled back, all we heard was Cedric laugh as her reply before their car disappeared from our hearing.

"I like them," I said.

"Yeah, they are really nice," Alice added.

"They have been my parents when my real ones weren't there," Gemma replied matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked.

"My parents…well, they weren't like Cedric and Felicity. They weren't like Carlisle and Esme either. They weren't even like your parents, Bella. My parents really did love me, I know that. They just didn't show it well. My dad liked to drink, and sometimes he would hit my mom and me. My mom would call me names whenever she was angry.

"Well, after Tristan moved here, and we started talking, I suppose he got curious one day, because I came to school with a scratch on my cheek. Of course, I knew I had to tell him it was an accident, otherwise, my parents might get sent away, and I didn't know better at the time. Well, every night after that he would come to my house and watch from the outside, cause he figured that there must have been something wrong," Gemma paused, looking at Tristan. "Am I getting this right?"

"Here, let me tell it, I remember my emotions, Gem," he replied, kissing her cheek, which had a scar on it. It was a small, straight scar that angled itself across her cheekbone. "Well, I watched her every night to make sure she was safe. I knew I liked her; there was something about her that made me want to protect her.

"Well, about a week later, her dad came in, and he was roaring drunk. I knew it from the second I smelled him. He smelled like pure whiskey, it was terrible. All of the sudden, he started calling Gemma's name and he called her names, and she came downstairs. I wanted to shout for her to go back upstairs, to hide, because I knew this couldn't end well. I wanted to protect her from her father.

"He began to punch her and slap her and call her more names. I watched in horror from the outside window, knowing that I very well couldn't come in and steal her away. I had to wait until he was either gone or you were too seriously wounded for me to continue watching.

"It was hell for me, watching from that window, knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop him. I wanted to tear him to shreds right there, as I watched him continue to punch Gemma.

"Suddenly, I saw something silver. He took out a gun and held it to her head. I knew I couldn't just stand there anymore. I ran into the house and pulled Gemma from him. He shot me, thinking that a simple bullet could penetrate my skin. When the bullet bounced off, he fired again, hoping it would penetrate. I guess that was too much for him, and he fainted, giving me enough time to pull Gemma to me.

"She was crying and holding her ribs where she must have broken at least two. I wanted nothing more than to take her away with me and change her, but I knew it was too early. I knew she had to get to know me first. So I used my powers to heal her, and once the healing was finished, I pulled her into my arms and didn't let go. I could never get this scar to go away, though. I'm not sure why. I have never been that good at healing cuts, anyway. But I'm just happy she's safe.

"After that, I asked my parents if Gemma could move in with us, and they said okay as long as I promised to tell her about us. I agreed, glad that I could keep Gemma safe. Things went smoothly after that, I told her about us about a month after she had moved in, and she said that she had figured something was up all along. I'm just happy to have her here and safe. I know you probably would have felt the same with Bella, Edward," Tristan explained.

"Gemma, I'm so sorry," I told her, pulling her into a hug as if I had known her all my life.

"It's okay, I'm happy now," she replied.

"Hey, let's go get ready. We still have to get to my surprise, guys!" Alice exclaimed as she pulled Gemma and me upstairs with our shopping bags in tow.

"Oh, right, that. Alright, guys, let's go," Tristan said as he led Edward and Jasper upstairs with Emmeline behind them.


End file.
